171

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMrvIARY: SEIICHI ~1IYASAKI, doctor

Sei i.chi Miyasaki, Japanese, was bOITI in Waialua on December 18, 1903.His parents came to Hawaii from Yamaguchi, Jap&l. His father was a headca.rpenterfor the Waialua Sugar Company. Seiichi attended WaialuaElementary, Mid-Pacific Institute, the University of Hawaii, NorthDakota University, and Northwestern Medical School. He was one of thefirst non~plantation doctors in Haleiwa-Waialua.

Seiichi worked from a young age to help finance his education.He married a Honolulu girl who was' attending the University of Hawaii.The Miyasakis raised four children. They live in Haleiwa.

172Tape No. 1-11-1-76'

ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEV

with

Dr. Seiichi Miyasaki (SM)

July 1, 1976

Haleiwa, Hawai i

BY: NonnaCarr(NC)

I\fC: This is an interview with ·Dr. Miyasaki in Haleiwa. Today is Thursday,July 1st, 1976. Dr. Miyasaki., will you please tell me about whereyour parents came. from. Wbat work they. came to do here.

8M: ~ parents came·here in 1898. My father was a carpenter for WaialuaPl.ant.at ion. They both were born in .Japan , I was born December 18,1903. I was isupposed to have beenrtaken to Japan. 1905.. I remainedthere until 1913. I went to Japanese school there . August of 1913,I came to Waialua and I "vebeen here ever since except for sevenyears that I've been on. mainland to medical school.

NC : Why di.d your parents take you back to Japan?

S14: I dont know the exact reason, but I think 'they thought they hadenough money.

(Laught.er)

NC: But they came back. You were born in .Waialua and you came back toVvaialua?

Srvl: Yes.

NC: Do you have any brothers or sisters?

SM: I have one sister; she was born in Japan; at that'time she couldn'tcome over to I-Iawaii e

NC: Has she come since t.hen?

SIvI: She made 0111y one visit ill 1972.

NC: Did your parents come by themselves or did their parents· come witht.hem?

srvI: No, they came as an immigrant.

NC: Did t.hey come in a group or on thei.r own?

SIvl: On the i r .own ,

)1

NC:

SM:

NC;

173

Do you have children?

I have two boys and two girls.

Can you tell about going to school hcre , how was i t different·from going to school in Japan?

I didn '.t know abi t of Engl.ish when I came ill 1913 and, I had tostartfrom--at that time they call it baby cIa.55 311d it wasnt justme, thet-e weremanyot.hers ,oldertllanI.. I··· remained .inHale.iwa,so called -Waialua Elementary ·School until 1920.

NC: In those days it was called Waialua. It's Haleiwa now.

SM: Then I went to Mid Pacific in 1920, graduated in 1924 and I went tou. H. for three· yeats.

NC: Did )TOU have 'the same subj ects in the baby SCll0o1 and in the othergrades, the later grades here that you had been studying in Japan?

S~1: Oh, ill Japan the first time I went to school, it was drawings;drawings only. I wasn't a great student. I didn't know how to reads impl.e .Iapanese until about the third grade.

NC: Is the drawing the purpose of th.at? To prepare you for cal Li graphy?

8M: Yes,] t.h.ink so. It was simple drawing ,Ilot complicated. It's justlike squares and battleships and all those things.

NC: After you went to Ni d Pacific, by this time, were you still bilin.gual?Did you ve ta.in your Japanese?

S1\·I: Yes. In. fact, I neglected to say that I went to Japanese school herein'Haleiwa - J6d6 Mission.

NC: Wl10 ran the Japanese School in those days?

SM: There were severa.lschools.. But they were one, two, t.hree , foursC}1001s., Includi.ng Kawailoa Japa.nese Schools .. They were .run by acertain sect of mission, Buddhist missions.

NC : Vvhere did the teachers come fran}'?

SM: From .lapan. Not directly from Japan. They come from .Japan toHono lulu and then t.he Honolulu Mi s s i.on sends them.

NC': But it was an orgarri zed affair to keep the school s supplied wi th .teachers?

SM: Yes, yes.

174

NC: Did your parents have to pay for you to go to the Japanese School?

SM: Yes, I don't believe it was more than dollar half a month.

NC: .But a dollar half was a lot in t.hose days. Did you catch up- - I knowthat. you're an intelligent per son-vbut I meanwhen you were in schooland you were not able· to speak English. Did you finally.oY· afterawhile go into classes where the chi.Idren spoke only Engl i sh?

SM: At that time,' 'there were many students, (Japanese students, Chinesestudents, Portuguese 3.l1da11. 1Ne all spoke pidginandtllatgotusby. ButT really wasn't abl.e to speak until about 4th grade. I skipthe grades "I was not in one class long enouk1J. to Learn Teadin.g.

NC: And then were children il1 the class ... English speaking?

SM: Yes ill fa.ct I coul.dnt speak at all till 4th grade. I was able towri t.e and I wrote compositions for another .Japanese boy who was. withme and I remember I got whipping .... (laughs)

NC: OJ1. It was not considered he.Ip? I guess theyput another connotationon it. Oh well,speaking of whipping, who whipped you?

SM: The teacher.

NC: That was allowed?

SM: Yes, in fact it was a coconut petiole, dried peti.ole and you put.yourfinger like this and wham, and then, in your buttocks.

NC: \\lhat did your parents say to that? Did they know that you weredisciplined?

SM: I didll't tell ~m but I'm sure they wouldn't have objected.

NC: How would you compare your eIement.ary school and Mid Pac experiencewi th t.he education oppor'tun i ties your children had?

SM: TIley have much more t.han , well at least they have more exposure. Iwas more or less confined to 0]18 insti t uti.on at t.hat time and studentswere mos t Iy Orientals. But they spoke English and I got around. Iwas Ionely ill the beginning but I got around. First thing I Learnedwas how to wash my OWl1 c lothes , i ron my O\V11 clothes.. Tf T went fromlVaialua t.o M. PI" in September, I couldn ' t come home till December,late December.

~~c: VVllY was that?

SM: Well the transportation. Oahu Rail here used to bring people here totown but it took three hours. From town to here, it's three hoursand so we couldn't come home and besides it wasn't cheap either.

175

NC: Would you have any idea what a fare would have cost. 'you in those days?Just so we·can compare.

8M: A dollar and half.

NC: A dollar and half each way. Mlell you cons ider that's what your' parentspaid. a month for your extra school. Your children th.en, had morechoices of school to go to. Did they choose other' schools?

S1\1: Yes. Three of my chil.dren went to :rv1PI, but the last one went toIol.an.i . l-Ie had a choicc.

NC: And then what about University, you went to University of Hawaii forawhile?

SM: Yes for three years. Then I started t.hi.nk.ing what am I going to do .So many people were going into di Fferent; professional work.. I didn'thave money (Laughs) so I had to go to a 'smalL'school where it wascheap. So I went to North Da.kota, University af·N. D. in Grand Forks.I stayed there two years. I worked part of my way.. Then from N. D.I went to Northwes tern University in Chicago and I stayed there twoyear's . I intern.ed for half year in Illinois J\1asonic Ilospital and oneyear a11(1 (1 hal f ill Milwaukee Children Hospi tal. And One- year in NewYork vVillard Parker Contagious Diseases Hospital fJ I earned enoughill t.hose seven years; I paid my own way back, steam fare as well astrain fare.

NC: lVhat coll~ges did your children choose?

S!vl: Well, ny two children,. two older gi.rl s went to UI-I. One didn "t finishbut tho other one is teaching at Moanalua High and the older boy isa carpenter out here in the Wal1iawa. iv1y daughter is secretary atEa.st West Cerrter , (my second daughter) an.d my son is i11 San Francisco.I-Ie just completed two year residency. and he took an exam and got a .fe.l l.owship , a two year fellowship, so I don't think he's coming backto his mom.

NC: ~Vellnlaybe later. One SOIl is a carpenter .. That's interestingbecause your fa:.tller was a carpenter'.

Sivl: Yes.

NC: Did the children grow IIp wi th the grandparents?

SM: Yes, they had exposure unt i I 1956 when my father d.i.ed . I took themeveryday when poss i bl e .

NC: ~V11en you were a child, did the plantation provide any kind of a daycare?

SM: No. Plantation had nothing. to do with my education. I mean, theydidn't promote me or anything like that.

176

NC: Was your mother able to stay home an.d take care of the family ordid she also work?

SM: .She worked part time. She didn't work all the years but she workedseveral 'years in plantation.

NC: WIlen you came back, you set L~ a private practice?

SI'v1: Right.

NC: While you were growing up, did you have any job' on the plantation?

SM: Yes, every summer I worked on the plantation.

NC: Do you remember 110W young or old you were with your first job'?

SIvl: I must have been 18 or 19. I worked in the summer under my fatherwho was head carpenter.

NC: So you have carpentry skills also?

Sl\1: Well, not as 'much as other people maybe, but at least I used to spendtime ill t hose days , It was tell hours work. It's not eight hours

'week (day). I used to, get SO¢ a day.

NC : Did you. do any other jobs in the plantation?

S~1: No, that's t.he only work I did ,

NC: And what kind of jobs did you do while you were earning your wayt.hrough school ?

SM: Yardwork, in certain docto.r's home and then Laboratory work atmedical school ..

NC: Dr. Miyas aki , whiIc you were growing up and your dad was' working int.he plarrtation , did you have neighbors who were in other kinds '01;work?

srv1: Yes, they were working ill t.he cane field for the most part and Ididn't have too much corrtactwith the parents but with other children.lYe go to SCll00l the same way ,

NC: So were 'the ich.iLdren of all nationalities?

SIvl: Ri gh t .

cNC: Okay, did you have other neighbors; like were there teachers livingnear you OY •••

SM: No.

177

NC: Did you have a minister friend w110 was one ne i.ghbor?

srv1: Yes, t.hey live at the. Jade Miss ion.

NC: ·Was this person close to your family?

SM: 'Yes, 11e was particularly close to me because my father and fourother people started buiLding thi.s miss i.on .

NC: ~Vhat year was this?

SM: 1913 to 1914.

NC: Did this minister have an influence on your life?

SM: I think tOSOTIle extent, yes. In fact I visited him in 1974 when Iwent to Japan. 'He's head of mission in KyllShu.· I had a very shortvis it wi th hi.m and carne ri gh t back. He wanted to take' me to Japanwhen I was Li ttle but I didn't care too much about going back toJapan where I carne from and I knew my experience. The' food, and Ididn't like going school and all that (Laughs}.

NC: W~hat was the matter with the food over there?

SIv1: The food is just very simple food, sardines. They fe.tch the sardinesfrom the ocean and we di.dn 't. have rice. ~Ve had wheat. Cooked wheat.And I didn't like the looks of t.he cooked. wheat and I couldn' teat.My mother, tried to make Ine eat but I couldn't. She used to mi.x halfrice and half wheat. And I still pick out the rice and threw outthe wheat.

NC: Was that particular to a special area in Japan?

SM: No t.ha.t.t s , mostly poor people meal.s , In the country districts. Therewas se l.dom rice for corrnnoners.

NC: Was the rice polished?

SM: Yes, more or less. Oh.we had both polished and unpolished rice.

NC: So really, they were better off eating the wheat?

S~l: Yes, mo re nutr.i t i.ous . The very reason is rhat many of the soldierswho used to go .int.o the army developed beri -beri if t.hey ate rice. Sothey use to feed 'em wheat.

l~C : And whoat was 1ess expens i ve than rice?

SIvI: Right.

NC: Was it grown ill Japan?

178

SJvI: Yes, yes. \\Tell the reason I had to come t.hi.s side is because Icouldnt eat the wheat.

NC: You luean you think that your parents came back for that reason?

SM: No, my father was here before but my mother was wi th me, trying to·raise me as Japanese, I suppose. ~~ grandmother and grandfatherwere very strict and they tri~dto make me eat wheat. I just couldn't.

NC: Did your mother come back with 'you?

SM: Yes. That's another thing. We were in Kobe for three months t ryingto corne this way. And when I passed the exam she didn't and when shepassed the exam, I didnt . A11d the examination at that time wereeye cxarni.nat i on; mostly t rachoma and round worms was in the bowe l .So we' could not come together. So I took a ship ahead of my motherand I came over·1913 with another lady who t s mct too close to us, butshe's from Kuga (a village on Oshima-gun). I tl s qui tc :1 distance Fromus . She 1 j vcd in \Vah iawa for some time.

NC: And your father was waiting for you here?

Slvl: Yes, but I couldn't come up as an American citizen beca.use my fatherLooked h.i.gh and. low for a certificate of birth and couldn.' t find it.Dr. vVood. was llere in the plantation and my father told Dr. Wood whenI was l)OTIl to register me but apparent.Iy he didn't because it was notregisterecl at Board of I-leal the 1)1'. T~Vood wrote a note saying that Iwas bo rn ill \Vaia.llla such and such day. And my father took t.hat toInmigrati.on Scrvi.cc but My. Hal.ey who was the immigration off'icert.here , said, how could Dr. ~Vood remember an event that occurred 12or 13 years ago . So 11e said, no~yougct to come up as Japanese. So Icame IIp as .Iapanese but before I werit to the Mainland ill 1927, I gota Hawai i an Birth Certificate from Hawaii State Goverrunent having t.\V'owi tnes ses to vouch for me. And that's 110W I went to the Nai.ruand as .a U. S. citizen.

NC: Do you remember rhe house that you came to when you were 13 years oldwhen you came . 1\l11at kind, of house?

Slv!: White, 011e by 1. 2 house. One by 12, one .inch by 12 .inch , pl.anks 0 I

board, All whi t.e wash , not paint, you know, just well, sort of slacklime.Just like slack limes. .'

NC: About 110\.v big was that ki.nd of house?

S~'1: Oh, I'd say some of them were larger t.han the others, but depend.ing ont.he family, they use to get bigger houses ...

NC : Were 'there bedrooms?

SM: Yes, but not beds. We slept on floors. And when I got the bed i twasa wooden .bed, Pat.her made the bed. I think tIle length of the house

179

is very low but,oh~I'd say about six hWldred square feet in areaor somewhere around there. 500 or 600 square feet 0

NC: Was there an inside kitchen?

SM : Yes, used to be in a T- form. Thi s way and this way. Ki tchen was·tIlis side and the parlor alld t.he rooms is this side.

NC: Your sister didn't come?

S1\1: No she coulc1n' t come. She was horn thc re :.1I1Cl .inuni.gr-atii.onTawat that time, I forgot, was 1924 or 1925, that they was stopped.irmrigrat ion from .Japan,

1'-JC: That affected the Tami.Iy cons i.derabLy . Did your father go on livingin the plantation until he died in '56?

SM: Yes.

NC: Did he get different kinds of houses?

SM: lVell, we moved from the inital house to a T and G house. Tongueclnd glDOVC house .. Nicer house and my father built a hous e , twobedroom and a parlor .and kitchenand bathroom; it was comfortab.Ie forme.

I~C: Did. your mother have to do-- i-la.s there a division of labor1 Your motherdid t.he housework?

SM: Yes, more or less in a Japanese family, the woman is supposed to doall the kitchen work) Laundry work, and .education-wise, cook; thechildren to go to schOOl and all that.

NC: The education, is that for the male children and the female children?

Si\·1 : Both .

NC: lVere you ass i gned any chores around the house?

SM: Yes, I remember chopping wood. At that time we didn't have electricstove so my work was clean the yard and chop wood. I'm an expert inchopping wood.

(Laughter)

NC: lVas your mother able to do the laundry near the house or did she haveto go to another place?

8M: Yes there was a cement block about six or eight feet square in whichpipe- -of cold water and round oil tubs-: not oil anymore...-but it'sclean tub from mill and we use to wash in there ..

180

NC: Did you have any pets of ally k.ind?

SM: We never had pets, lffitil in fact, I've been bitten by a dog and(laughs) I don't care much about dogs except my son brought those

.dogs ,

NC: Di.d your. parents keep any ·animals for food?

8M: No. 011 yes, but we never ate. In fact, because other children keptrabbi ts, we

Jkept' rabb i ts for awhile.

NC: But you didn't eat?

SM: I ate chicken but I never ate rabbit.

NC: Speaking of chicken and rabbit, did .your mother cook Japanese style?

SM: Yes, all the way Japanese.· . She didn't know any cooking other thanthat ,

NC: She didn't exchange recipes with the other ladies?

8M: Not to my knowledge. I don't ~~ow.

NC: So did she have 'any difficulty findin.g the ingredients she wanted?

SM: Well, at that time, there were men from different stores W}10 wouldcome around t.ak.i ng-order-s . For Ins tance , our ne.ighbor here. Mr ,Fuj ioka, his father used to run a store, Fuj ioka Store in Puui.ki andhe used to come around, Once in two to t.liree ..

NC: And did they deliver?

8M: Yes, they did.

NC: Did he have an automobile for that or ...

SM: No, at the begirming was horseback, wagon.

NC: So wha t the Japanese cuisine in those daysri.s it different, was itdifferent from what is today? Was it?

SM: Very s impl.e . In other words, pickles, radi shes and all t.hat. and rice ..And fi sh . lVe d.idnt eat too much meat. In fact, I never saw meatin Japan when I was there. Just vegetables and maybe xh icken and t.hings .

NC: Your mother did all the cooking?

SM: Yes , fat.he r was good in cooking because he lived quite a while as'single .in the camp up here. I mean before my mother came home.

NC: So did he do it once in awhile?

181

SM: Yeah.

NC: A11d who cleaned up after the. cooking?

SM: Oh,TIlY mother and my father.

1'JC: You father vd.id heIp . Your' mother had a wood stove?

Stvl: WJlat do you ca.ll those, no stove inside the house unt i I 1927 ..Outside, cooked on t.he outside.

NC: Was ita brick stove or a charcoal?

Styli: ChaTcoal. We had charcoal and wood.

NC: Was' there any kind of oven' anywhere that ·the ladies could use.?

8M: We didn't. They were kindofexpensive things to have , One section,we called 'em Portuguese Camp, and then the Spanish Camp had. AndCh.inese were very few. Japanese, mostly Japanese camp.

NC: Were the cooking arrangement the same ill all the camps?

SM: Yes, individual' cooki.ng .

NC: Now what kind of recreation was available when you were a child?

SM: 0]11 baseball and basketball and, I didn't play too much. Just baseballfor t.he most part. Tennis, after I went to MPI I started tennis.I tried to run but I couldn't run. (Both laugh)

NC: You mean like track?

8M: Yeah.wrist

So I confine my sports to tennis.one t i.me , and then after that ...

Baseball, I fracture my

NC: Did yOLI have any activities after school that would be ...well, youwent t.o Tunguage school after school .

SM: Yes, we went to language school when I was here. Seven to .eight inthe morni.ng and t hen from eight to two thirty, English School andthree to six language school ,

NC: And l'n1 ask.ing you about recreation. (Both Laugh)f i shing or things like t.hat?

SM: Yes. I'm. 110 good f i sherman , (Laughs)

Well,did you go

NC: How about visiting friends or were there any other relatives that youcould visit?

182

SM: No, I had no relatives here ..

NC: Did people exchange visits in those days?

SM: ~lostly adults. Every year, I've forgotten how many" in April, the'Emperor's Bi r thday , they used to drink and they used to go aroundto d.ifferent houses to celebrate and drink. And theyt d get drunk.Nly father used to dri.nk, too, but s i.nce 1919, he stopped enti rely. Hegot sick from drinking. lie mixed a drink too many indifferenthouses. And I remember I went to call a doctor and we couldn't gethim So the best we could do we use to have a little electricbattery operated stimulator of skin; I used to run that. Somehow hegot better. And ever since that time he never drank a drop ..

NC= That must have been some hangover. (Both laugh). Do you remember didthe ethnic groups celebrate only the i r own particular holidays?

..SM: Yes. But Christmas was almost lmiversal. New Year is universal ...

NC: Do you remember anybody going aroW1d with masks on New Year's?

Stv1: t~o, I don't.

NC: Somebody told us about it, and we thought. we would ask. Were thereany particular foods associated wi th the holidays?

SM: Yes. The kind of food that we have here. Sushi and sashimi and thosethings.

NC: Did your mother tell you that there was any particular significance tothe different foods?

Sf\1: Yesv but I've forgotten all that , (Laugh) I had to eat beans in such'and suchway , And then I couldn't eat some food. I shouldn't eat.But I've forgotten all those.

N.C: \\Tas t.here any thi.ng like going to the movies?

SM: Yes, I used to like movies and I've forgotten how much it was. Iwanted to go but we were poor, so we couldn't go too many times.

NC: Was there any .Japanese theater, live theater?

SM: Yes 'there was here, Haleiwa Theater , Was originally Japanese run.

NC: Was it live actors or movies?

SM: Movies. Occasionally there some actors came around (to put up showsin t he theater}.

NC: Did the actors come from Japan? Was it aToca.l group?

183

8M: Well,sometimes during the celebrations, they put up their own shows~

They call it Shibai II It's only putting IIp if somebody does somethingto exhib i t , what; you call those shibai, put a big f ront . They callit shibai ..

NC : Pretend?

8M: Yeah.

NC: Was rhere any card playing?

SM: I was strictly forbi.dden to play cards, any kind of cards , orlllahj ong by my father.. He, well, my mothe-r too said that was gamb·ling ..So I was, to this day, I. don't mow how to play cards.

NC; And was there gambling then? Is that WIlY your parents were trying toprotect you?

SM: Not ill tho camp, but certain outside the plantation. there was somegarnb l ing.

NC: Was there any clubs that children could belong to?

SM: Not to my knowledgejexceptSunday school. and so forth.

N~: ~Vere there any cIubs that your father could belong to?

Srvl: He had. some organizations, local organization.s but 110t anything that'sreally fiim or binding .

.NC : I-Iow about for your mother?

SM: She never went out ..

NC: Never went out by herself or never went out?

SM: By herse.l f or anyone. She belonged to Women's Club here, but shenever visited.

NC: Is that a very Japanese t.hing?

SM: Well,you know in olden days, women belongs to the home, never went outon t.he.i r own anyway ..

NC: Do you bel jeve 'that?

SIvl: Yes and 110. (Roth laugh) I'm hal f. way .in between so ...

NC: Did the Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts, did they come around?

SM: Yes, Long after the initialwar, the first war.

184

NC: After the first war? Dr. Miyasaki , was there much correspondenceback and forth to Japan? Your parents, did they write to theirrelatives over there?

SM: . Not unless they really had to. They' didn't write except my grand­parents were there so they did write occasionally. But always sent

. few dollars over there.

NC: T11ey would send money wi thout wr'i ting?

SM: Sometimes.

NC: ~Vas it because ...why did they not write?

sr~: Because they have, well, we don't write long letters but there arecertain rituals carried on in the family in .Iapan and said obon iscomi.ng , Obonis here August 6, anclobon in .Iapan is about t~same;may not be tIle same date but we have certain ri tuals and it wouldcost them some amount , So we used to send the money ,

NC: So your paren.ts send money to their paren.ts to help them observe therituals over there. Would these rituals be bringing blessings to thefamily in some way?

SM: That's t.he purpose I suppose.

I'JC: \Vas wri ting paper expens i ve?

8M: No I don't think i t was too expens i ve, use to was te lots of paper.( Laughs)

. NC: Well, okay , I just wondered. In some countries I know, even to thisday, writing paper is a luxury. Did your parents know~their

ca.l.l i graphy?

SM:' My father was good. at. it. My mother was not.

NC: So that was not the problem then. Was it that ...

SM: In fact my father used to write letters for other people.

NC: And about 110w long would correspondence take to cross the ocean inthose days?

SM: At least two weeks, the fastest.

And how secure was the lTI011ey·. an?t:::" .." •

S:tYI: Post office. Postal money order.

NC: A 1110ney order. There would be no problem at the other end exchangingthe money?

185

SM: Well, they are sent to certain bank usually and the banks notify theindividual and they suppose to come and get i to Put I understood thatthose clerks in the banks used. to ask them to deposit at the bank,not take it horne. So invariably they did deposit.

NC: Did your parents expect thei r parents to wri t.e about your sister?

SM: l\Jo.

NC: How did your parents keep track of your sister?

SM: They use to write to the son-in-law and to the sister-in-lawl'

NC : No, I mean while she was still little, how did they' keep track?

SM: My grandfath.er d.i.dn ' t know how to read so my mother's brother used toread letters that we write.

NC : Now, so much for news back and forth. IiO\\T about when th.e plantationwant.ed 'the peopl e in the plantation to know something? How was, howdid they communicate in the plantation?

,SlY!: Well rnost.ly through the groups, for instance my fa ther ' s group, therewere 21 carpenters and they gave rhe message to my father and myfather had to cormnmicate with them.

NC: Did they also communicate through like the ethnic camp?

SM: I think so.

NC: Did they post messages or was it mouth? More word of mouth?

SM: Yes , verbal .

NC: \Vas there much 'int.eres t. in the plantation, was there much interestin what was happerii.ng in the 'towns around the plantation?

SM: The p.l ant.a t ion took care of its O'tV11 groups and they could easilys t.op outsiders to COTIle ill to t.he p l.antat i on. You know , ·the camppolice .... They d.i.dn ' t bother too IIlUC}, about stopping coming in peoplelike that.

NC: So when t.hi ngs happened in the t.own, woul.d you say that the news gotto t.hc p l.an tation?

SM: I t.hi nk .j r woul d get there first.. Anvthing happen in. the plantation,to the pLantation office, al1d probably \ve get i.t indirectly.

NC : And did the t.hi.ngs happening in the t.owns affect the people in theplantation?

SM: I don't know, in what respect do you mean?

, 186

NC: ~'lell, like suppose t.here was a robbery or murder in the town. Ifthere was such a thing in those days.

Stv1: Yes, I didn't see it myself but my folks when they were here earlier,,there use to be lot of murders using cane knife, killing them. Andthe original immigrants, I understood, were kinda rough people. They,use to run away into the cane field; they can't locate and all that.

NC: And wouId th~rtin(fkcplantdtion'tighten up sec ur i ry?

SIvt: I think so. I think they should and I think they did.

NC: The plantation po l ice-i-woul.d you say they were there to protect aswell as control ....

SM: Yes.

NC: ... the plantation? "When did the people start listening to the radioor when did you get your first radio?

SM: Idicln "t hear radio until when, my folks had- -Lhe electric rangebefore t.he radio, I think. I think it was around 1936,'35, when wegot radio. I kJ10W t}le range was in my house for my mother in 1927\~1en I left there. And that was one of the three in Waialua Plantation~

(Laughs )

NC: That was all electric range. So that.' s showed some consideration tothe lady of the house: (B oth Laugh) Did that make life easier?

SM: I don't know.. Maybe did because we had to go outside and light thef i reand cook it on the wood. Vvhat we used to do is cut the kerosene,£ive gallon kerosene can in a stove fashion and put i11 that, and the.Iapanese , what we call hagama, cooking rice. We use to cook that way.(Long pause in tape) ... unt i l my mother died, we used. to have similar'arrangement where you have stoves outside. Cook mochi, I mean .mochi ,New Year's .. Before the New Year, we use to have trays, steam, big fire.You woul.d steam i t and I don ' t know what form of rice but it's aglutcn rice and I use to POlU1d t.hat mochi rice cake ell. We use to dothat until recently.

NC: 'And you did that outside?

SM: Yes, I still have the stove. By that time it was still iron stove.A11d 1101e in t.ho middle where youput 'the wood in there and then thes tono , ju.st Li.ke the Hawaiians gouged out that. I still have thatthing out there lying around:out there.

u-s-u "vas the name of t.hat.. Stone. You've seen them. Stone dug outand pound'with the wooden hammer.

NC: Dr. Miyasaki, when did your parents have a telephone?

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S1\1: Yes, I 'think t.hey were one of few WI10 had telephone. I think it was1926 or somewhere around that ..

NC; Do you kJ.l0W .i.f it was an expensive item in those days?

SM: Yes , I 've forgotten how much they paid but it was sort of expensive.

NC: Since it was such a11 expens ive item, for what reason?

8M: Ch.iefly, my mother didn't go out so she use to order to 'the storeswhat she wanted.

NC: Now as you were growing up here, 311d you mentioned before that you.played wi th the. other ch i Ldren and so on, was 'there any kind ofdelinquency?

8M: You mean, school-wi.se?

NC: \\Tell, did the children do any kind of 'th ing that would be consideredcriminal or delinquent?

8M: Ohvas far as that goes only fighting I remember.....(Laughs)

NC: \\Tell, were there any other socially unacceptable behaviors? How didthe parents react to rhe fighting?

SM: I guess they d.i.dn , t think it was a good thing but then most of themhad t.he.ir disagreement with one ano ther so, probably it was naturalcarrying all.

NC: TIle children or t.he adults?

8M: Well both of t hem. I used to hear loud voices in the camp once inawhile.

NC: Were there ally vandalism or drunkenness in the camps?

SM: On.l.y t ime I notice was ho l i days .

NC :t-Iolid.ays, otherwise t.he peoplc were pretty sober. Were there manysocial activities like parties?

SIv!: Only weddings vand parties and birthdays and all t.ha t , .if they di.d,

NC: Did you get married on the p.lant.at i on?

Si\l: No, I got married here.

NC: In Waialua or in Haleiwa?

8M: Haleiwa.

NC: Ha.Ieiwa , that's r i.ght., I wondered if you got marri.ed in your parent's

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home?

SM: No.

NC: .Or in Mrs , Mi.yasaki ' s home?

SM: ·No, I had a two story home, and I asked permiss ion to have the partyhcre,

NC: Mlat was the wedding like ln those days? First, a ceremony at themi.ss i on?

SM: Yes.

t~C: And did you have a reception?

8M: Yes.

NC : And whom did you invi te to the rcccpr i on?

SlvI: Well my friends, about my age that I knew. Then my parent's friends.

:f\JC: lVas there any ki.nd of a ceremony that .was observed at the receptionlike toasts? Were there any formal parts to the reception?

SM: ~Vell t.hey talk, just like they do here now. I didn't want thoseformal affairs so I cut short,

NC: So, you didn't want those?

SM: 1'10. I think that's a waste of money and time, that's all.

NC: Would you say that you have done away with a few Japanese traditions,doctor?

SM: I think I grew out.

NC: Was that because you fel t more American than Japanese?

SM: No, I don't think so s Tha t 's my nature, I think. I was brought upvery frugal anyway.

NC: Dr. ~1iyasaki, about your wedding, you cut out some of the traditinns.But r 'rn sure your f.rthcr had somcthing to S~lY about l·..rllat)'ou .could cut off.

Slv1: Yes, h.e did" an~ I didn't want to oppose my folks too much so I lett.hem have some of thei r own; they .want to invi te such and' such people.And speeches by different people but I asked them directly, not throughmy father , directIy to the speakers to cut it short.

NC: And did you serve a traditional kind of Japanese refreshment?

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SM: Yes, from this store here. Yamada restaurant used to cater.

NC: lVas it tradition and at rhat. timc , did 'pcopl c bring presents?

8M: Yes , moneta.ry and some articles ..

NC: Were presents in those days, that were not money? Were they store­bought present OJ' did people make things?

S~1: No, mostly bought from the store.

NC: Your wife was also born and raised ·here?

8M: No, she was born In Honolulu. ..

NC: In Honolulu, excuse me, I meant locally. How did you meet?

8M: Well my father used to vis i t Yokohama 's Specie bank once in awhi Le ..He happened to see this girl and in bank t he re was a fellow in rhe bankWI10 my fa ther had known who lived not too far away hi.s home. He got usinterested in t.his girl and I met her through the bank teller.

l'JC: Did she live in HonoLu.l u?

8M: She went to University, so local; University of Hawaii.

NC: So did you have to travel in to visit her?

8M: Yes, I had my first car.

NC: M1at kind was it?

SM: Chevro.le t .

NC: What year was that?

SM: I t.hi.nk i twas '34 Chevrolet. Two door.

NC: How expens i ve were cars in those days?'

SM: Oh, rhat was ini.ne hundred dollars -- new car.

NC: Wllere did you shop. for 'the car?

SM: At Walliawa ..

NC: Was that car·agency there?

SM: Yes, Service Motors.

NC: So about how many cars were there in Waialua -. Haleiwa?

190

SM: 011, by 1934 we 113(1 a gaoel many ca.rs. But WIle]1 T waswcrk.ing in. tIlep l.ant.at i.on , sunnne r-Lime , Mr. Goodale the plantation manager wasthe only one W}10 had car, a Cadillac.

NC: How were the roads in those days?

SM: Well, very narrow and. no roads like this. Dirt road.

NC: And about how long d i d it take t hem to go into Honolulu to visit?

SM: :Mrrrrnrmn. I think one hour half. I'm not a good driver .

NC : I t wasn ' t shortened by much. Now, YOllY father was one of t.he foundersof the Jodo Mission in Haleiwa? Have you cont i nued to participate inthat mission?

~1: Yes, my last assign was treasurer for the new buildings that wejust erected two years ago.

NC: Must have been hard work.

SM: Well, we have a very small congregation. I t.hink it's less than onehund red , And those people pledged and. donated ninety-three thousanddollars. And duri ng rthe interval, I mean several years before, Iwas .interes tcd in Young Men's property out in HaIe iwa which nobodyseemed to take care. And t.here was a Filipino farmer livin.g therefree, ta.x free. And si nee t he property belonged to lla l.eiwa YoungMen's Association, I took .int.e res t , and I 'wanted this proI)erty fort.he m.iss i on because most of the 'young men there went to th.i s school ,(Taisho Cakko , affi liate of .Iodo Mission.) And I had to get thesignatures, from different people. I went way out to almost to Waipahuto get signatures. Finally got it signed plus four-hundred dollars.Three houses in the property . The old houses were usel ess , Sowe wrecked it and put in two, three new houses; not new' houses, oldsecond hand house s for rent, We were co l.l ecting rent but nobodywants to go throu.gh with the collecting rent every mont.h. So afterawhi1e we got tirecl, about 15 years ago and thought it was a goodchance to sell. So we sold that t.hree houses plus fifteen thou.sandsquare feet propcrty . Not directly on the road but just a.bout 7S feetinsi dc and. I priced ita sixty-f i ve thousand dollars, hut 1101)ody wantsto buy. T got it sol d at si x ty-j.wo thousand five hundred (do l Lar-s) andthat money helped us to clefray part of the expenses in this Mission butthe men and women dona ted ninety-three thousand or sornrch , and then tenthousand more from the sale of t hi s property cleared evo ryth ing , Nodebt in the church.

NC: That 's wonderful . \Vi th only one hundrcdrnembers ?

SM: Yes.

NC: What activities does t.he Mi ss i.on sponsor?

SM: Well, we used to have Boy Scouts. Women's club meetings

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still going on and any month they used to have meetings, young men.But nowadays too busy so they not carrying one (Taisho School is thelanguage school affiliated wi th Haleiwa LT6d6 Mission ..)

l~C: .Are there holy days that. are to be observed in a certain 'V~JY?

SM: ~Ve11 I do go to the church most days but unl.ess I Till called I can'tgo ..

t~C: If you" re called on a case"youmea11. In you get asked by some'oftlie other religious groups in the area also to participate inanything with them?

SM: Not in any particular event, but just donations, they call fordonations. That's about all. I don't participate; one is enoughfor me ,

NC: Dr. Miyasaki, when you came back from t.he IV-ainland and you were adoctor, you established a private practice?

SM: Yes, here in Haleiwa, yes.

NC: In I-Ialeiwa. Did you have any thi.ng to do, aside from your privatepractice, wi th the plantation Ileal th care?

SM: Not TI1l1ch except; t.hat these plantation people sometimes come to mebecause of Language d.ifficulties. And Dr .. Davis asked me to visitthe hosp i tal once in awhi Ie and then if he's not available, I usedto go 'there once in awhile.

NC: Now you came back in the 1930' s?

SM: '34,' 35.

NC: 1935.. Did they have a hospital t.hen?

Sfvl: Yes,a plantation hosp i tal ,

NC: Did all the people agree that 'they woul d use t.he plantation hospi talor did you have some private patients because ...

S~1: No, I never sent my patients there. 1vIy patients, you either had togo to town or I had to ask Dr. Davis to take care. Outside doctorswere 110t permitted into the plantation structure.

~~c: And could a plantation worker c1100se to come to you as a privatepatient and not go to the plantation hospital?

S1\1: Yes. but if it needs hosp i tal i zation I· couldn't go there,-so I had tosend 'em to t.own, down to some other doctors.

'I!

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I~C: How avai l.abIe was medicine, like if you prescribe things? Werethere certain t hi.ngs that you could not give a prcscription forbecause they couldn't be obtained here? Like, let's compare 1935.

SM: '1935, t.he only thing available was sulpha amide at the most; noperrici l l in or other expensive drugs.

NC: ~\Tas that discovered la.ter?

SM: Yes, penicillin, after the ~Var. (~VorldWar II.)

NC: After the War on somebody' s bread mold, r i ght?

J'.JC: TIle care that you were able to give, did you feel there were obstaclesto what you wanted to do?

SM: ~Vell,first of all, I couldn't take any of my patients to the hospitaleven if I wanted and second there was no drug stores. I have to blIymedicine.

NC: So you had to carry the medicine?

SM; Yes. Well, another thing is money_ Most of the plantation people-­they don't want to spend money.

NC: This was in the 1935's when we're just getting over a depression.Did it change ill the forties?

SM: Yes, gradually I think, it changed. Medicine is more available and.I began - '·-1944, I s tarted to go Wahiawa General Hospital and I takemy O. B. cases there and my hospitalization out there. So whatevermedicine is available at the hospi tal, we could not ge t personally It

For instance, I had one girl, she came .in because of fever butI couldn't see anyt.hi.ng wrong and she was a plantation patient so shevisited plantation first. Three days after that I saw her, she wasreally sick. I notice that she had pustule on finger. I told her sowhy don't you go to ·the hosp i tal ? S11e said, "They wouldnt take me."So I t.ol d her why don ' t you go to Queell , s .. So I called up the doctorfor t hem to see her over there. She went to Queen's and she was therefor three moriths . It was septicernia, a blood stream .infection. Thefirst time she came, 511e looked sick; I couldnt f ind anyth ing wrong,but she had extraction, dent.aI extraction and because she was bleeding,511e couldn ' t stop so I took off t he blood, cloth and it stopped. Threedays after that she was in the hosp i tal 'three months, and then shecame 110me. She was in two months again. She" s al right' now.

NC: They have not wanted to take her at the plantation hospital?

SIvl: No. Actually that would be, p l.ant.at i.on di.dnt haveany---one or twonurses and working problem.

NC: No doctors?

193

SM: Dr. Davis.

NC: Thi s girl lived in thcplarltatioIl? She's a member of a plantationfamily. But they wouldn't take her?

SM: 'Well, if ad.actor t h inks she's 110t sick enough, they won't take her.

NC: Did they have very few beds in those days?

8'.1: Yes, not too many . I think was 15 or twenty beds .

NC: Did you have more rif one kind of case t.han another?

SM: No, had vari.ab.lc , various cases but mostly upper respiratory infectiollSand nowadays t.he patients for everything.

NC: Why do you t.hi.nk more upper respiratory cases?

SM: Wel.l, I don't know exactly why, but I used to get upper respirator)! in­fccti on when I was ill Ne\\T York , too. (Laughs} I don't know, 'MaybetJ1C)l'1"e I i ving too close together.

NC: Did you ever notice, was it seasonal?

SM: r dont v-vyes , in winter, yeah.

NC: Is there nparticular kind of activity or lack of activity during·thos o months on the plantation?

SM·: No, P 1nntntion after awhi Ie gave us holidays, so most ly it's s t ay ingat home , 110t at work.

NC: So it wasn ' t the sugar cane burning or things like t hat ?

SM: No, no .. \Ve l i ke to blame it to the sugar x.anc for asthma and allthat but that hasn ' t heen proved one way or another.

NC: Ilavc you noti cod it when there's a part icul.ar kind of activity thatthere might be an i nc rcase in any kind of SymptOITI5?

S~1: No, I wouldn "t say that ..

NC: l tm not t.ryiug to put a case on t ho plantat i on . T just wondered ifthese t hings happened. Did you eVCT know of any sui ci dcs ill thisare?

•SM: I've known several , but 1 can't recall ofF-Iiand what ... let's see, one

I distinct.ly r-emember was two-va mal.c one, three, all males. TIlewife had passed away , the ch i Idren had gone away, he was alone andmel aucho.l i a or something like that. ' .

NC: Aye there any , or as a doctor, do you get patients you notice wi t.h

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some kind of mental strain, perhaps more than the physical cause?

8M: Yes and no. Most of the time mental .. ~ .. old Japanese used to have.t.rouhle with women. More men t.han women. They use to fight overand used to have a lot of trouble.

NC: That was i11 'the old days before they could bring t.he i r wives, br ingtheir family. Was that during the time you were practicing as adoctor?

8M: During my practice ... I don't know rhe cause but I st i l l have one.1936, '38, still on in at Kaneohe. She was only 18 or 19 when she wentcuckoo ..

NC: S11e was comni t.ted?: Oh, could anybody guess as to what caused it?

S!v1: They were living in the fann out there and maybe.... I don't like to saycongen.i tal. Not any pa.rticular disease. But one other sister ispecul iar now...

NC: More eccentric t.han crazy. How about san.i tation conditions when youcame back? Was there anything that.alalTIled you?

sr~: TI1e latrines were still there, and cesspool had gone in but plantationwas ] ate", '[he' plantation .i.n due time put in r cgular toilets wi thrlU111 ing watcr , 111at was the dis t i.nct thing I remember then. It's,j us t .1 ike one of th.ese camps with running water. After that, thesef lush toilets came in. But that was a great improvement for the old.Japanese .

NC: 1-10\\1 about condi tians for garbage collection?

SM: We use to have men' who have pigs come and collect. Even now, somecases, they come and collect as well.

N(~: Recyc l i ng. Ilow about street .cleaning?

S~'I: Street, there is 110 particular street cIean.ing . except the Ci ty andC01Ulty men, I not.i.ced started some years back.

NC: Do you see any litter problems' along the roads?

SM: Along. t.he beach.

NC: How long has that been going on?

SM: Oh, for years. The Reverend out there cleans the beach every morning,you know..

NC: Do you t.hi nk that litter on the beach may have an effect on the healthof the community in general?

195

SM: Not so much the health as the injury from glass bottles and cansand ...

NC: Cans. Have these injuries increased, I mean, are they bad enough thatyou end up trea.ting people?

8M: Some of them ; not much" It used to be worse but it's good now.

NC: Who's taking t.he respons ib.il i ty of c lean ing up the beach 'besidest.hat i ndiv i duaI doing one piece of t.he beach?

8M: Nobody except the Reverend cleans that,· and the other side owned bya private Lndi.v.idual . Nobody does the cleaning except for themselves.

NC: The City and COlmty and the State ...

SM: Yeah, and then 'the park.

NC: Do you know if any of the c i t i zens complain to the different governmentagencies about this?

SM: No.

NC: How about the birth of babies? Has there been a statistical difference[rOITI ] 930 to 1960, let's say?

SM: We1l, 1 dc l i ve rcd quite a numbor at homes, .indi vidua l homes andmaybe I use to be there Iong ti.me . 1'0 r'epai.r Laccrat ions . Si.nce1945, '44, I 'put them ill the hospital so it's eas i cr for me. 1 justgot a circu.lar letter the other day ,the In·! trying to t.ra i n mi.dwifenurse to deliver, whether at horne or ii.n the hospital, I don't know,To take away some burden f romLhe doctors. I don't do any deliveriesnow. Two years since I've done any , .

NC: Dr _ Mj yasaki., have there been an)' retarded chi Idren in the area?

SM: Yes, few of t.hem, Retarded have been sent to Waimano Home.

NC: To wa.imano Horne? Has this been the case that the children wered i agnoscd as retarded early or d-id they come to you with a medicalprobl.em and YOlI have been the one to di.agnosc?

SM: Well, yes and no because 1 have one part icu l ar case, she's forty, 44to 45 years old. I saw t.he ch il d for the first time at five. Whe'n shewas five. .And I imagine SODle of other doctors might have seen hertoo, but she's defini tely ·retarded. The publi.c heal th nurse and Itried to s end 1181' to lVaimano llome . TIle mother said okay, but whenwe arr-anged everything, she said no.. So she's still wi th the mother.

NC: Still with t.he mo ther? How retarded is she?

SM; She cannot. Learn ABC. She cannot read. One of those school teachers

196

tried. to tell her how to, to pounce on key C On the p iano . She couldn"tremember. She doesn't do anything except sweep once in awhile.

NC: So as an adult, this woman is still living with the mother and what·"vill happen to her when the mother' dies?

SM: ·1 ta.lked to t.he brothcrs-> no sisters, just the brothers involved,seven or e i.ght members. I talked to some of them, not all. The motheris in ·the 80's now. So eventually, they have to take care of thisgirl or send iem to Waimano Home or take-care houses. But I guessthey understand that .. They thelTlSelvesdon't'want to take care.

NC: How 10~g has Waimano Home been in existence? All during your practice?

NC: And before that?

S~I: I th ink so.

NC: What k ind of programs do they have there' for the mentally retarded?

Sl-l: JllSt keeping them, not too much in a way of educat i on. Except in thelast ten, twelve years, I'm sure they have.

t:("~: So.i t' 5 a custodial institution?

Sfvf: Yeah.

NC: Have there been any epidemics of any kind out in this area?

S~1: None except before I came home in 1919 and 1920 there was flu. Thekind of flu, that they're talking about, swine flu, Spanish flu, theysaid. In this smal I location, locali ty, there were 52 people who .(lied on that. .Jodo Mi.s s i.on used to be a two story ho te.l . Many people,I don ' t know how many , well, they all develop flu and nrini s ter , originalminister's wife passed away from the f l.u. Caught; From the peopl.e ,Thi.s was qui te a severe type of infection tha t was around.

NC: So, s ince 1920, this area has been fortunate enough ...

SM: lVel1 , I have not known of any' since 1936.

NC: Have t.he re been any wide- spread problems, not any epidemics, .but maybe 11as there been a rash of ringworm?

SM: I've seen lots 0.£ ringworm but; I C811't hold it. I t.hi.nk that'scomnon, ordina~

NC: I was thinking of how fast something can spread here.

SM: Well, I don ' t t h.ink it's any worse than in any conmurrity.

197

NC: Do patients of yours, have most of them been with you since they wereb01U, 'cause I know you delivered many babies?

8M: Yes, except they moved out of here to various corrnnuni ties. And theyknow that I'm getting old so time to go such and such place.

NC: Are there families that )TOU have several generations to t ake care of?

SM: Yeah. So T dOT1't.... some people call me W}10ITl I've never known whowant Inc but tell them, "Sorry but T cannot take anybody ."

NC: Have you ever 'had the'opp6rttmity to gC? take any more course inmedicine?

SM: I used to go to town every month, but I haven ,·.t beer}, around now.I've been to San Francisco for med.icaL'convcnti.ons and rhings likethat. Aside from that, most times tapes that I listen to. I gettapes every month.

NC: I asked you because I know how busy you are that I just wondered howyou ...

S~1: I used to have it on the car but not any more. I listen to tapewhile I'm in the car.

NC: Oh , it's modern progress, isn't it? Okay, do you feel that since youstarted, are the people t.hat you d.ea.l wi th more aware of how theycan help t.hemse l.vcs ?

SIv1: 1 think so. And yet they come for every little thing and. sometimesI '111 annoyed. But t hcy probably afraid, so they come, I know. Theynot coming for fun but they might feel that 'th i.s mi.ghr get worse,and they cone to me.

NC: And you fee1 that there are things that t.hey should 'take care of...

SM: Yes, T think so. They should be able to after talking to them somany times.

NC: 1)0 'you fee 1. that. you call help them practice prevcnt i tive medi c ine?

Sf\1: Individual l y , yes, not as a group , I dOT1't like to talk in a group.

NC: Is this becaus e condi tions have improved for them as well as you?

SM: Yes, 1 think so.

I\]C: [Jr. Niyasak i , do YOlI recall any people ill the comnunit.y , as you weregrowing lIP; or during your pra.ctice years , that.you would describeas colorful personalities? Anybody stands out in your mind?

SM: Yes, but he's dead already.

1.98

NC: 0}1, 311d who was that?

SM: We used to call him Seavi~v Sato. He's the one that used to run therestaurant across the bridge. He was really colorful, he was really·a go-getter too, and he used to be in everything, corrnnlll1ity-wise.Another thing is that he use to owe a lot of money an~ he never paid.

NC:Did they have another name for him then?

SM: I remember he pledged to donate $175 to this mission. He never cameacross and people went to ask, community assigned, I mean individualassigned to the man went to ask for the money, said "I'll bring it,I'll bring it soon." He never brought Lt,

NC: And do youremenmer any particular medical case' of yours thatyou ~10W, for you, outstanding case?

SM : Well, it's so 1011g, t.hcrcwere many cases. That one! told you about,septicemia. Now,and let's see .... 1Vell, offhand, I can't recall. Butsome cases that I have to send to town for. One time, I definitelyfelt this is polio; I t.hi.nk around four years old, three to four yearsold. J3ut lle went to the plantation and they say it' s not , but turnedout to be polio and I felt sorry for the child. Of coursecouldn' tdo anyth ing at t ha t tirne , anyway. 1 happen to be trai.ned at 1Villard andParker for pol i.o . I lived. there for one year and I took care of a lotof 1)01i.o , scarlet fever and all that. Vfuen I came back, I found one'J'apallese girl wi tIl scarlet fever. Beautiful scarlet and I reportedthat to Board of Health and theI)lantation doctor said we havcnoscarlet ill Hawai i , but I cal Ied up the Board of Heal th , "Oh yes we have scarl et:

NC: Do you remember any thing about techniques, medical techniques that .....

Sf\I: Well.,technique-wise I don't do too much surgery, so I'm not tooanxious to talk about that; but medical-wise, things have changed.Different tests for different things and I have to pick up as I wentalong for my own. And it's true also of the hospi t al., too, and justlike we LIse to keep leprosy cases confined 'to Molokai. Now it's in theOahu area here. Seen SOIne leprosy in Chicago Hospi tal, Chicago, thatj us t confined, for demonstration. People' that never see early leprosy-­you carl pick up a book, use t.ha t and compare and tell off hand it's notthe same. That has 'changed quite a bit ever since I came home. I haveGIlly one case of leprosy that I knew. It's because , t.he parents, 011e

of t.he parent.s had, I mean, leprosy. I discovered; she ' s still inMolokai., I think. But she has no place to go. She's all by herself.

NC: ~~~d how about par~~edics? Do you find an increase in their use or inyour practice? Do you...

SM: No, 110t in my practice but. ill hospitals they use that. I think it'sa good thing in some respect.

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NC : That's kind. of a lat.er vthi.ng, Lsn' t it?

SM: Yes. Just rccently . More or less recent. But I was telling youawhile ago ]10W a nurse :midwife is coming back and the UH is trying

.to find out whether t.here is a need to relieve the doctors from thebusy schedule . If they going do it at home or if they going do it int.he hospi tal , it's all r i.ght ,

NC: We're gonna be different from, for example, in England, they don't haveto be registered nurses to be midwives.

SIV1: Well those I worked wi tIl years ago came from Japan, Japan trainedmidwives. Nurse had gone through nursing schools and they were allr i ght ,

NC: What about the ladies in rhe camp who were midwives? WIlen you cameback in 1935, \vere there still ladies from the different ethnic groupspracticing midwife?

SM: rvty contact was only Japanese but Portuguese used to deliver too.

NC: And in 1935, were they still doing it' or were women comin.g?

SM: Yes, some, some. Not gradually, they shift.ed over from mi.dwife tohospital. Just 'before the ~\Tar. Or maybe thereafter.

NC: WOllld you say that was because the younger people didn't learn to doi t or because t.he ...

8M: Well, there were no midwives, except the ones that came from J?-panout here ~ but in, HonoIul.u there were some others ... ~

NC: 011 I see. Now what were this will be rathcr personal. Call yourhink of events or occasions in your life that were the happiest you'had and why?

SM: I couldn't sa~

NC: You've had a good life, havent you?

8M: More or 'less even. But I can't say one event is l1appy and not theothers.

NC: YOlI' ve had many good ones , I-lave you ever had all occasion when youwere very angry about something?

SIvl: 011 yes.Lut I don't fly off t he hand.le and try to deal with it. I letnature take its course.That t s WIlY I got t.ha t ,

Nr .\..1. I don ' t mean that. Sometim.es a father gets angry wi th his ch i l.drcn. I

mean, was t he re somerh.ing happeni.ng in the conmuni ty t.hat you perhaps'thought was a.n injustice or a government agency didn't carry out itsrcspons ib i l i ty or something like that whi ch affected the connnunity,

200

which made you angry?

SM: I don't get angry for anyth.ing done by government 'cause government isvery slow in acting and they said main highway will come 'out aroundthe island. That's forty years ago they said· they were gonna put ahi.ghway around there but no th.ing happened.

NC: Still d011'·t have it. And now they're questioning whether they shouldmake .i t at Kaena Poin.t, yeah?

8M: Yeah.

NC : Maybe forty years from now.

8M: It was plea.sant going that train, pass 'through Kaena Point SandyBeach, You know what I mean. T11e trai.n use to run 'from Kahuku throughhere, to Kaena Point, around to Waianae and to town..

:'/:: How J atewas that, how lon.g ago did it stop?

;··~r~·1: I thi.nk just before the War started.

NC: Just before World War II?

Sf\1: Yeah.

NC: It would still be a good scenic ride now wouldn't it?

SM: Yeah, but they sold that railroad, land of the railroad property todifferent individuals.

NC: Would be harder now.

Sty!: And )'OU .Iodo Mission had to buy 200 feet hy 40 feet. Oh, they wanted$7,500' but we but we don't have that kind of money. We j ewed them down to$6,000. Then we got the two houses 011 the side and the next ten years'i t amount to, but we're still paying for it.

NC: Paying off the proj.ect?

S~1: So the mission owns f rom the road to the beach.

NC: That.' s good.

Srv1: A val.uabl.e property now.

NC: Call you say some of things that made r ca l changes in your 'l i fe?Any event that made a real change in YOUY life or set you in a certainpath?

SM: No, it's not. my chance, my....what made me pick up medicine, th.at'sabout the 'only change.

201

NC: Can you tell me about it?

SM: Well I said before, this minister wanted to take me to Japan and Iwas afraid to go back to Japan and I didn't want to. And then whenI was in ivtPI I knew, 1'11 be gra.duating, I have to go to college.yVhat mn I gonna do after I graduate from college. Then I happenedto go to ·a doctor he re , a Japanese doctor, was Japan trained. Saidreally if I work hard enough, maybe I can be one of them .. That's

.110W I gradually worked out.

NC: Di.d-you go to him for help, medicalhelp?

Stv1: No.

NC: You went to him to talk to him?

SM: No, medical help' in the wa.y.. 1 think my father had tumny ache andI took him there. I went wi t11 him and when. I was around, he didspeak in .Japanese iand I happened to know a Li ttle bit and I thoughtt.hat.' s what I want ; it must be good profession. I didnt talk to myFather about that for quite sometime and he asked me what am I gonna do?I had to spill the beans and we didn' th.ave enough money to send me tothe Mai.nl and. But he said he'd try and 11e say, "Son, you have to helpyourself." So I have to pick school I don't have to pay too muchtu.i tion. Cause nowadays, you gotta pay $5,000 for one year , Thosedays were $350 or ZOO something a year. So I got by working part ofmy time.

l:ND OJ~ INfERVIEW

202

Tape No. 1-43-2-76

ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW

with

Seiich.i Miyasaki. (SM)

.Iul.y 8, 1976

Haleiwa, Hawai;

BY: Norma Carr (NC)

NC:: Thi s is the second interview with Dr. Miyasaki in Haleiwa. Today istruly Rth, 1.976. Dr. Miyasak.i ; it's interesting that 'you went From the1PC;·l j <rhool all' the way to Mi.d Pacific Insti tute. Who decided thatyou should go to Mi.d Pacific? ,

S~l: lVell" I had a friend W}lO used to go to town and he urged me to go totown school- -MPI rather vthan McKinley'. ~~1cI(inleywas fairly big schoolat that time, and I could not comnut;e from here, so MPI was the DIllyschool I should go to.

NC: And at Mck i rilcy , you would have had to try to get in everyday then?

Sfvl: Yes.

NC : So; ~tid-Pi~ c was the only place where you could board?

SIvI: .Ri.ght .

NC: ·When you were a child, you had a pretty busy schedule, but you did f.indtime for some recreation. You said you liked tennis ...

SM: Yes. Baseball and tennis. I broke my wrist and I didn't play bal Ianymore. I jllst played tennis.

NC: In the activities t.hat you could participate in as a ch i Id ; were therech i.l.drcn of many _ethnic groups?

SJvl: Yes, ill school. Before we come horne , we go to .Japancse school. Thatis only Japanese. Now, you find many.... f rom other e thrii c groups goingto Japanese school. Yeah. But at that time, was principally Japaneseextraction.'

~JC: SO, 110W , it has C}-larlged so that ...

SI'vi: Yes., a great deal. This school' out here , at the peal" used to havefour hundred so many students From elementary school. But now, I thinkit's less than eighty .Japanese and the other students.

203

NC: Do you t.hi.nk that the children studying Japanese ill the after schoolare'the!e by their c~oice, or....

8M: Well, I don't think they' have a choice. I think it's the parents tell~ em to go.'

NC: So it hasn t t changed in that respect?

(Laughter)

NC: Would you say that you were 'there by choice when you were a child, oryour parents ...

SM: Well, I think.... see, when I 'came, here, I was told to go to school inWaiailla. I went there one year . And since this one opened, fathertold me go to the school, so I started going there.

NC: So after one year in \Vaiall1a, you went to the language school?

81\'1: There was a Language school in Waialua. Hongwanj i.

NC: Oh, I see ..

S~l: And then this is the .Jodoshu, so my father ,being a .Jodoshu member ...

NC: Now I have it straight. I 'thought; perha.ps they had opened an all dayschool.

8M: No ..

NC: But you had told me that you went to Waialua through the eighth grade.

SM: That t s e lementary school here.

NC: Oh, J see. So, you really didn't have much chance to play with the otherethnic groups?

Stv1: No, excepting \\f'aiallla Elementary School.

NC: . During the school day, was the discipline in the public school suchthat everyt.hing was organized al.I day Long , or did you really have achance to make friends during the day?

SM: 011, yes. We had two recesses, one in the momin.g, one in the afternoon.So, plenty of time .to play ball, or, other t.hings ~

NC: The teachers in t.he publ i c school.s , were t.hey local t.eachers , or....

Sfvl: No.. Dur i.ng my days, there were only two. local teachers. That is,local graduate here went to a Nonnal School in town and came back tot.each here ~ Others were from Honolulu and from California.

NC: Do you remember the nationali ty or the ethnic group of t.he two local

204

t.eachers ?

SM: Chinese and Japanese.

NC: So, would you say that._ .. there was a chance at the teaching professionfor different ethnic groups in ~hose older days?

Srv1: Yes, yes ..

NC: Do you know why teachers carne from California or other places in theMainland?

<,:!vl: J t.hi nk English was emphasized so much that .... they rather have SOTIle

PC f1P1(' from California come and teach the language.

N(~: I th i nk you're right t.here . The English Standard school .... that waspart of your experiellce?

SM: No .when I was go ing to school , there was no such t.hi.ng. But after Ifinished, I unders tand t.he re were three English Standard .schools inHonolulu. But not out here.

t~C: You r'emembe r t.hat; we also talked about midwives in the early days?And you thought that out here, it was only Japanese trained in Japan.

SM: Yeah.

NC:Could you tell me about what year that might have been?

SM: Well, the midwives were---there were three midwives when I came back'from Mainland. That's "1935. But before that Japanese women, particularly,rarely gave birth in the hospital out "here in the country. Alwaysmidwiyes . And" when there's difficulty, the plantation doctors used tovisit the home,

NC: Do yOll rhink t.hat before 1935 that in thi.s area there were midwivesof other national i t i es , or only those ladies trained in Japan?

SM: No, I have never met, but I heard of Portuguese women delivering babies ..

NC : Yeall, we have, too, t.ha t 's why I wondered. When you came back, you hada house here in Haleiwa?

Si\1: Yes.

NC: Did you ·have t.he house before you came back? Did it become YOlIY

property before you C&~e back?~

SM: No, after I came .back.

NC : You boughtit when you came back.

205

Stvl: After, yeah.

NC: What made you decide.to practice in Haleiwa?

SM: Well, not my cho.ice , (Laughs ) I had wanted to go back to' the Mainland forstud.ies, but it so happened that I was just grounded here due to myfolks and also, that I got sick.

NC: So, it was Haleiwa, .I mean, you could have chosen Honolulu, but youdidn't.

Sl\Jf: Yes. But I didn't want to go Honolulu.

NC: Could you tell me why'.

S:tvl: Oh, just t.hat I didn't want. I'm a country boy, and I just..... (Laughs)

NC: 011. You were comfortable here. A.s a yOW1g doctor ,alld being inHaleiwa whi.ch at that time had a smal Le r population than now?

SIv!: Yes, I think, n.ot smaller. :tvIaybe it's 'about the same. The only doctorat' that time was Dr. Davis, plantation, Waialua plantation.'

NC: He was the plantation doctor.

8M: Yes.

NC: So, the plantation took care of it's own, and then you had to dependon a pract i ce ....

8M: Yes, outside.

NC: ... for the outsiders.

SM: :Mhm.

NC: But you still dec.ided on HaI eiwa , then, mostly to be near your folks?

8M: Yes. They were getting old and I didn't want to Leave. If I left themand if I go to the Mainland, then I have to come back' should anything. happen.

NC: Now , ano the r th i ng , when you came back , you got a car. Did you need thecar for your practice?

SIvl: Yes, I had to do many house calls way up, five miles above this hillhere t.oward ~\TaI1iawa. I had the first car . I had it for at least threeyears. And t.hen , when I went to visi t 110me way up the mount ain , it wasdry . On my way back, itstarted to rain . I trained just enough so thatt.he surface is wet , then, the car start to skid on the muddy road, andI landed in the ditch.

(Laughter)

206

NC: ,Were you hurt?

SM: Wasn't hurt , It just gently went in there.

(Laughter)

S~1: My blood pressure apparatus and my bag all running down in the ditch.

(Chuck l.cs )

\JC: ~.fygoodness. And what happened? What about-the-car? :Was it workinga fter t.hat ?

SM: Yes, bllt I left the car, then, I started walk down the' hill, and I meta Filipino man who took me down to a garage. And the garage peoplecame up ito pick -qp the car. Repaired that. '

NC: And you used 'the car in order to visi t the young lady WI10 was tobecome your wife.

S1\1: That was an incidental t.hi.ng . That.' s rthe same car I used, you know,yeah.

l~C: I won't ask you if you went in a di t.ch , (Laughs) Okay. When you werecourt ing Chieko .... a friend had .introduced you?

S1vI: Yes.

l'JC: And did t.he friend also speak to her parents?

SM: Yes.

NC: Was tha t the traditional ...

SIvl: Yes.

NC: ... way of .int.roducing young people to each other?

51'.1: Mhm.

NC: Okay. Now .....what kind of visits .or taking her out was pennitted rnthose days by t he parents?

SM: I visit her once a week when I 'm off , So, all we could do is justgo to picture shows or something like t.hat .

~JC: .tL1J1d , so the picture shows were in' HOl101ulu. Do you remember what kindof movies ...... talkies, or ...... yes, it was talking ...

S!vl: T11e Ol11y one t.ha t I remember distinctly was this Nelson Eddy's what doyou call that. . . . s inging , Ne1s on Eddy wi th ....

207

NC: With Jeannette McDonald?

SM·: Right. That's the one I remember , That was in Princess Theatre.

NC : Oh! In 1935, '36 ?

SM: Somewhere in. '36, I think.

NC: Naughty Marietta.?

,SM: Yeahj rthat.' s· .011e.

NC: Yeah. It was one of my favorites, too.

(Laughter)

NC: Were you allowed' to take her .. to a restaurant or to have some refreshmentor ....

Stvl: I never did. Those days, I didn"t have the time, anyway, and I don'twant to l(eep her too long, so I took her back, generally. We had alittle drink at her home. She was living in town.

NC: Was there an expect.ati.onrtha t you would have to visit for so Longbefore you could' think about marriage?

SM: No.

NC: No. It just depended on the two of you?

Stvl: Yes.

NC: Were her parents the kind of people who obse.rved Japanese traditionsfor the most part?

8M: Yes.

, NC: I see. But, was th i s part of becoming Americani zed that they allowedyou to act as two respons ib.Ie Independent people?

SM: I th.ink so. I think so.

NC: Was it their effort to get Americanized, or was it that they expectedthat you young people would .....

8M: I think they just accepted .... how were things going in the society likethat ;;

NC: Yeah. Did they have other children?

SM: They had.... one, two, three ....

208

NC: l~lat I really mean is, like, is she the first one?

SM: Ye~., shes the, first one.

NC:: Oh, so she was breaking ice for the. ft ... rest 0·£ the family?

r~rvl: One, two, three, four ...... four girls, you know, younger rhan. ...... and thethree brothers .

1~(~: So, she was kind o f-v-maybe , L'rn just reading into it. I was gues s ing :_that shewasik.ind of helping the parerrts understand American ways , then.

SM: No, I think that is automatic.. It just came along. She wasn't doinganything unusual.

NC: I see. Was she in school at the time?

SM: No, she was working in the bank as a teller.

'NC : And had she gone to .....

SIv1: Yes,she was ...... at the Urriversity for three years ,and then, theparent.s were hav.i.ngJrard time, so she stopped going to school. Shestart work at the Yokohama Specie Bank.

~C: So, she had to drop out?

SM: Yeah.

NC: Did she ever have a chance to finish?

SM: Strange things happened. l\lhen she went back, there was no record ofher being there.

NC: OJ1.

SM: Somebody switched her card. Similar name and her record was not there~

NC: I've known of other records getting lost.

S~'1: YeaI1 ..

NC: I don't know if it was a switch. 'You know........ I've known that tohappen to several people here. I guess it's the syst.em of bookkeepin.g- -­record keeping really.. Now, we can get back to few other things , Dr.Mi.yasak i , ill the 1919 flu epidemic, you ·told me that 52 people had died ..Was that Haleiwa or Waialua?

SM: That.' s Waialua. I don't know about other nationality, but quite anumber of Japanese died. I t.h.ink the others got the flu, too, but.Japanese being on strike, probably their sanitation was not as good asit should b~ then.

209

NC: Were some of those strikers evicted?

SN: I don't like to call it evicted, but the strikers just came to pick 'ernup. Certain people came to push them out with the trucks. They pullout the t.hings Trom the house,'and the p.l arrtation itself. did not---the police. did not evict t.hem. But the strikers came to .... for.ins tancejvin my house, my father did not. warrt to strike, but four men-­I distinctly remember--four men came with the truck to load our stuff inthe car.

Ne: They tried to get your father out?

8M: My Father didn't want, but because of rnc-r- I was little, and he 'thought;I'dbe in a bad s i tuation thereafter, so he went out. But Mr. Goodaletold him don't go, but he went out. -

NC: So, you feel yout father was forced to go on strike?

SM: More or less, yes. Not by the plantation, but by ....

NC,: But by the other strikers.

'SM: Yeah , yeah.

NC: So, if the people were not evicted, but still they left. You say theywere---you think that the strikers went and pushed the non-strikingJapanese out?

St~: Yeah.. Naj or.i ty of them. But, some did not go out of the pl ant.ati.on ,Some of the supervisory group. They istayed on. But after the strikewas over, they were sort of-·- -what do you call that .....

NC: Rivalry? Bi.tterne.ss?

SM: They were bitter against these people who did not go out.

NC: Even though they were Japan.ese? The same as themselves?

SM: They were known as strike breaker, and.... they di.dnt like 'em.

NC: Were you aware of the same feeling for the other ethni.c groups thatdid not go on strike?

Srv1: No. I think this was principal l.y Japanese strike. They we're underpaid.ivly Father was a. head carpent.er , and he was paid only two dollars a day.But a Portllgu.ese shop foreman there was paid three something. Andilly father 'vent to ask tv1r. ,Goodale, Wll0' S t}le mal1ager, w11Y t}-le ••••d.iscrepancy of payment . Mr, Goodale at that time answered, "1\Te're notpaying for the job. We're paying the men." So my father couldn't sayaJ1ything. So he went back. But eventually, he raised his pay in duetime.

210

NC: Do you think he raised only your fatller's pay, or did he raise othere thni.c groups who were doing the same kind of work?

\1: I don't know about theine But, I know my father was the top man insalary amongst the Japanese.

NC: It's a pity the way some of those things. happen,

SM: Yes, well, I was afraid of Mr, Goodale. Hes nice man, but tall and(Laughs ] my 'father would not give me rhe jab. "You go and ask Mr,Goodale."SoIhadto-go~ I was scared to go in the office, bur.:

(Laughter)

NC: So your father wouldn't hire you wi thout an okay, huh?

SM: Yeah.

NC: Oh my. YOlI know, this' was ethnic prejudice then, not to' give theJapanese equal pay .

SM: That' show it was previously'.

NC: Yeah. It seems to have been accepted by all the groups for a while.Can you th.irik back wi t.h what. fnight have started the workers thinkingthat wasn't fair.

SM: . Well, I think, working just as hard as other people and they're notpaid as much , probably..... brought on that kind of a strike, and allthat.

Nt: You kl10W, they did bring in other workers. Were you aware of otherethnic groups coming in after their working force went down in 1919,1920? .

S~vI: lVell, I've heard, now that you mentioned, but I never realize that theywere in the lVaialua Plantation. Because there was a Spanish camp andthere was a Puerto Rican camp anel the Portuguese camp, Japanese camp.'Ihere were very, very few Chinese.

NC: Yes. They had left? Okay , Now, after that strike of 1919 and theep.idemic and all that, was the .Japanese group .... then, t.he leastrepresen.ted amongst; the workers? You know they had the fewest ...

Slv1: For a whi le , yes.

NC: 111e11 it picked up again?

.SIV1: It picked LJP for a whi.Le , but in the mearrt ime , many of the youngs tershad left. for ~Vaipahu where they wanted more men. A11d many' of ourfriends here had gone to Waipahu Plantation, Oahu plantation.

211

NC: To another plantation? Okay. So, they couldn't keep the youngpeople here. Now, these young people were n.ot the children of theones who had been on strike, or were they ...

SM: No, they·both. Both.

NC: So, all the young people wanted to leave?

SM: Leave the plantation and start somewhere else.

NC: Could that have been due partly, to the parents wanting somethingdiffc rent?

SM: Right. For instance, my father told me, "Get in your own business.Don't work under somebody, You' 11 never get ahead. If I think that wasgenera! throughout the place. They realized after the s t r'i.ke , I think ,YO'u cannot be working plan.tation all the time.

NC: Dr.ivIiyasaki, do you .feel that your parents were a Imos t owned by theplantatiOT1?

SM: I di.dn ' t feel that way,b'ut everywhere you go, plantation is on topof you. And you. don't want to do anything that the plal1tation d.i.dn ' ,t want.So, TI1Y fathervdidnt t want to strike,but, because of me, they went out.And when we came 'back, the Japanese d.id not Will the strike. Yeah. TIleycame back because they had to, and when my father went to see Mr.Goodale, 11e say, "Yeah. Come home and. work." In fact, it was many yearsbefore ·that that when my father asked for pay, equ~l pay with the Portugueseshop man, Mr. Goodale said, "We pay the man, not t.he work." Fatherleft to work ill Schof'i.el.d , and they were building .houses over there.Schofield. And he worked there for six months, or eight months, I think.And t.hen during rhat time, Mr. Goodale came and asked him if he wantedto come back. Said, "Why? Give the same kind of pay that the others ....I'll go back." But he said, "No, we cannot give." "But," he said, ,"Lhey want to bui.Ld a Catholic church. St , Michael's over there. So,you want to contract 'that , you come bacl<." Said, "Okay." So, he cameback and I1e built the first Catholic church 'in that same place St.Michael's. And when Father Sebastian was still there, that Catholicchurch, first church t.hat Father buil t burned .. down. I-Ie had the picture.But he reIt quite bad afterward. f-Ie: got his raise after that churchwas bui l t ,

NC': Now....where were y01..! during 'the Depress i on years?

SM: In 1.~ 27, '29, was it?

t~C: Yea11. '29. It h i t Hawai i hardest 1931.

SM: I was in Chicago.

NC: You were in Chicago. And how did the Depression affect the help th.atyour parents were able to give you?

212

S~;l: They were giving me money, but small amount. And I was .... by 1929 ....Twas still in Chi cago up to, let's see, '31.. And I was .irrterru.ng , Iwas in the Masonic Hosp i tal, and it didn't bother me at all, yeah.Because I was getting free meals and lodging and they used to' washnlY c.Iothos for me. Iron my clothes. The only thing that bothered mewas beans for breakfast, beans for lunch, beans for supper. (Laughs)In the hospital, you know.

NC: (Laughs) And you used to be a fussy ea.ter, right?

SM: Ri ght , But I didn't..want to spend money, so I used to eat at thehospital. And the nurses were nice, they were. Thanksgiving, likethat, they used to save things for me to eat.' .

NC: Now, you really had mostly beans, then?

. 8M: That time, .beans, three times a .day ,

NC: Anything else from t ime to time? Yeah?

SI\l: Ye~, but they were the most noticeable one, beans ,

(Laughter)

NC: Did your mother, 'did your father, did any friends wri te to you aboutthe conditions back home during those years?

SM: No, 'they didn't say that they were Jiav.ing a hard time or anything likerhat , '

NC: Did you know that they were or were not?

SM: I heard th.ere was a Depress ion, but .... because I didn't feel anything,'(Laughs) it didnt bother me, yeah.

NC : And your parents 'never complained about anythi.ng?

S~1: No.

NC: So your mother I s only worry was t.ha t you were so far away?

SM: Yes. Stran.ge, you k110W. I sel.dom ever got sick after I left here.It's onl.y lv11e11 I came back rhat I got sick. (Laughs)

NC: lVllat kind o f s i cknes s?

SIvl: _A.s a chi.Ld ; I l1ad pneumonia. I was sick .... summert.ime . And 1. brokemy wris t as' I told you before, and after I came back, start practice here,I had a very bad gall bladder disease. Then , appendix.

NC: Such a young man! You...

213

Srvl: 1\Tell, I was younger, but I still had the gall bladder and I had .appendix. They thought was appendix, and Dr. Strode operated on me, and

, then, a week later, r was s t i Ll vhaving Tever , and they opened up the gallbladder and drained it. And I was in Queen' 5 for 46 day's.

NC: 46 days. \Vas that because of the techniques used then, or .....

SIvl: No I was just sick. Th.ings used to float before me. Flowers used tomove IIp and down by th.e sill, window sill. And they tell me I wasdelirious for quite a while.

NC: Did they have a specialist there, or ....

8M: Well, Dr. J. Strode was a s~rgeon, anyway. He was the top surgeon~

NC: When ·you came back...

SM: It was still Depression, but, not,probably, just the way it was.

NC·: ~Vere your pati.ents able to pay?

8M: Very little.

NC: Did they pay you .in cash when they paid? Did you ClITe on credit?

(Laughter)

SM: I'm softy and I never collected many of them, good' many of them.Never collected.

NC: Did anybody ever pay you, like, wi th produce? You know, veget.abl.esand ...

SM: Yes, some did. But, I never demand those things. 'They bring for me andI used to thank them for it. But, if I had kept all the- - -they didn't pay,amount to quite a sum, but I never wanted to. They were sick and theycan't pay, well, that's all'.

,NC: That's a wonderfu.l attitude. You know,. you were here. II •

(Telephone rings. 8M answers . Aftcrward , taping resumes)

NC: Dr. Miyasaki" so, ill th i s period 1935 did you feel that t.he plantationcould almost reach out and Influcnce your medical practice, for example?

8M: ,r did. not feel t.hat way , but, I know, because my father was still there ,I was obligated to do some t.hings t.hat perhaps I di.drrt t want. But ....all the who.Le , plantation managers have been very good to me, startingwith ~'lr .~~1idkiff, who was very nice. lie used to invite me once a monthto t.he i r meetings on the p.l.ant.ation , I never used the hospital 'for mypat i ents , but I used to do Dr. Davis when he calls. So, when he'snot t.here , the nurses used to call. I have nothing against the

214

plantation. TIle present manager, Mr.. Paty. Very nice. I was amazedthe other day when there was a meeting. Was it April or May? Hecalled on the outsiders, Haleiwa people by first name· without any notes.

NC: During those first years, you didn't really have many people comingfrom t.he pla.ntation. They' had ·their own caresystern.

SM: Yes, only once in a while' they used to drop in, because they weredissatisfied, and they used to come. I accepted them.

NC; So, those of your patients who could pay, what kind of j obs did theyhave?

SM: You mean in Haleiwa?

NC: Yeah.

SM: ~Vell., variety of jobs. Stores, work in the stores. Or work in. theirown field out there , lotus fields. All' kind. Carpentry and all that.Outside carpen.ters.

NC: Did you have any school teachers. or ....

SIvl: Very few , yes. Those school teachers were usually still from theMainl and , and relatively few local teachers.

NC : Were the teachers paid in cash ,an.d could they pay you in cash?

SM: ~Vell, they 'paid in check and they used to go to a bank , and they' .usedto pay me.

NC: Oh, so t.hey did have money? TIley had money? On the Mainland, some ofthem were paid with script during the Depression. .

S:tY1: I don't remember script out here .

. NC: Out here? No, I haven.' t heard of it. I jus twas wonderi.ng 41 Now ....'when you got married then, the Depression was almost over?

SM: Yes, nearly over.

NC: Was that a factor helping you to decide that you could get married?

S~1-: I\Jo, J don' t think so.

NC: No, I mean, economically, you...

srvl: I didn't have much .trouble wi t.h my finance. (Laughs)

NC: I just wondered t.hat if the people couldn't pay that ....

SM: Oh, yes, but I had enough to get along, so it didn't bother me. I didn't

215

make a fortune, but I jus~ get along.

(Laughter)

NC: But you could be married. Some people couldn't in these days. Whenmechani zati.on started in the p1antation--some of it "vas pretty early, buta lot of it happened during the .Iate '30s and .all- -were you aware of anyhea l th hazards or any ....

SM: I've heard of many accidents, but I don't Imowofanyhazards other­wise.

NC: Well, I mean, hazards that caused accidents. So, you heard about thembut there wasn't ....

srv1: I seldom ever treated anybody like that.

NC: The radio was kind of a recreation thing in those days.

S!~: Yes.

I\]C: Did you have time to listen to 'the radio?

SM: Yes, I didto' listen.

In 'the evenings and sometimes in the afternoons, I usedI never listened in the morning.

NC: Did you have any favorite programs?

SM: I don't recall any.

(Laughter)

SM: Oh, well, ill regards to programs ....I used to listen to lot of Mai.nl.andprograms that came in. Jokes, people telling jokes and all that.

NC : Oh, rhe comedians.

SM: But 1 used to Li s ten to them most of the time.

NC: Okay.

SM: Eddie Cantor and his group and t.he one who died recently.

NC: Jack Benny?

St.l: Jack Benny, I used to like.

NC: Did th ings get better about your medical supplies? You told me thatyou had to carly the medicine yourself, because there was no drugstore.

216

SfvI: Still, 'there is no drug store here but because there are cars, theygo out and pick whatever theycanno~ get from me.

NC: Where do they go? Now?

SM: Oh, 'thcrc ' re two drug stores up ~Va}lia\va. lVa.lliawa Pharmacy andOkimoto Pharmacy. And the Waialua Plantation, now, has rhe drugdepartment , and they can go.

NC: So, that has improved, then. The burden is not on you anymore.

SM: Yeah.

NC: You came back 1935. By 1941, we were at war. Wl1ere were you when theJapanese attacked Pearl Harbor?

SM: Right here. 1 used to have a two story bui.Iding .in the next lot.I was living t.hcre . My office was there. Two story. I used to liveup OJ1 t.he t.op ,and the office was downstairs. One Sunday morning,December 7th, it was, I started to see a patient, and suddenly, Iused to no t i.ce sounds of shooting, machine -gun shots. And the patientsthat were in my office went out to see t.hem. They say, "War, war!"So" I said, "Ah,no war!jj I went out to see them, but I did not see.the planes , So high, I cannot see what planes they were , 'But, bynOOl1, I fOlITId out that it was Japanese who were a.ttacking here .. AndI had to take back two of the Japanese boys who were my friends, myf r i ends .of my parents I had brought home the night before to myparents ' home . I had to ta.ke them to Schofi.cl.d. And I took them.I picked IIp another one this Yamad.a's store, and another one--my mother'sne i.ghbor- - four soldiers. And I took them on my car, and start to goon up t.h.is Kemoo Hill. I was stopped and told to dismount, and.... openthe t runk , They asked me each one who these. people were. I tol·d them,"These are soldiers I'm taking If back to Scho ficl d. " Say; "Okay ,go. " And there were a platoon walking down the h i l l.. And when I wentto about coupIe of miles ahead , I was stopped again. Same thing. Andfina l.ly , I stopped at Service ~/lotors, and I told t.he boys, "It's ashort distance. Walk from here , I dont want. to go up there anymore;"

(Laught.cr)

NC: Next time, they wou.ld have come wi 'th a gun, though.

SM: And t.hen , I saw shots, bullet 1101es in the doors and all in th.e stores,you know. A11d people want.ed gas, gasol i.ne , and the man won't sell thegaso.l i nc , So, 11e told me to "Wait un t i l these people are gone and I'llgive you some gasoline to go home." But on the way back, I was stopped 'again, but they let me go.

NC: ~Vas t.his mili tary police who were stopping you?

S!vI: Ye~h, Schofi.e.Id-so.l.di.ers coming'down to the shore to observe what'sgoIn.g 011. ,

217

NC: lVas t.here any damage any closer? Like, right here in: this area?

Sfvl: No. Not in my home or anywhere else here, but shots were being fired.And I heard those shots. .

NC: ~ hope nobody in your family was hurt.

SM: No, nobody.

NC: 111e11 , what condi tions existed around here for the next few weeks afterthat?

8M: Bl.ackout.s . And I was awakened, because we hung a black cloth and paper,you knowj so that if the soldiers from out there .see t.hc light fromthe window, they used to come and tap at the wind.ow. We used toblacking out , Onl.y t.h i ng we listened to was radio, at that time. Andone vt.ime , a police- -I 'TIl sure i.t was mili. tary po l i ceman- -entered. Ihad the radi.o covered wi th bl.ack , because the Li ght shows in rhere ,And he came to Jnvcs ti.gatc the radio, but they didn't take mille, anyway.Many pla.ces ,tIle radios were t.aken off, taken by these people away.

NC : By what authority?

8M:' I don vt know. They just took. TIley clai.med , afterwards, but some ofthem were 110t able to get their. radi.o , Mine was just small one, sothey d.idnt take. TIley didn't do that in t.he plantation. Outside.Beca.u.se Mr. Mi.dki ff was there. Said, "I'll take care of my men."

NC: How 'were the children affected in the area? Did you have any nervouschildren to treat, or ....

SM: No, I t.hink they were fairly calm. I think the adul ts were moreconceYIled than irritated. .

NC: Did t.he bIackouts affect your work in any way?

SlvI: Well, it was good for me. I didn't work n i ght time .

(Laughter)

NC: For the rest of the year. Did they ration food o~ gas?

-S1vl: Casoline, yes. .I still have some s tamps that I used before. And, thefood 1VQS- - - I didn t t feel anyt.hi.n., , because I wasn ' t buy.irig the food.(Laughs) but the only thing I fel t was gasoline shortage. I had to 11.Ses tamp ,

NC: But you were the doctor? Did t.he authori ties make sure that you hadInore ...

Sf\l: Probably had more than the rest of the people. And I could ask for it"

218

NC: Then, again, about the chi.Ldren , Was there anything unusual for thechildren? M1at happened....

SM: I did not notice any discrimination, being Japanese children from theother nationali ties. There may have been, but I didn't notice. .

NC: l"'hat happened ill the schools, though? Did they go to schoo l regularly?

S~l: 011, yes. After the ini tial shock , well, they all went back to school.

NC: Were t.he children out.l1ere 'requi.redvtojge t ..identification cards. oranything like that?

SM: Yes. We all got the fingerprints and all that ,

NC: Including the children?

SM: Oh, ·yes.

NC: Little chi l.dren?

S~/I: ~Vell, nry daughter was .... just t1\TO, then. Two of them got fingersprint.ed.

NC: Fingerprinted. Were the ch.ildren taught to used gas masks or anythinglike th.at?

SM: At one t irne, yes. But that quickly faded. (Laughs)

NC: Was that due to something like initial hysteria?

SM: Yeah , I think so.

NC: Was your practice .increasedby the influx of defense workers andmilitary?

Stv1: No, I diet, not take care much of t.he military. Just civilians.

NC: "Vere t.here more defense workers coming into the area?

Si\1: 1\10, most of rho defense worker, men out here went to Wa}liawa to workfrom Schofi eld ,

END OF SIDE ONE.

SIDE 11NO.

NC: 1Vhat kind of travel was restricted?

SI\1: Particularly n.i.ght time. Vi.s i.ti.ng patients. At one time, I went to-­as I told you·before--Kamaloa, where there's an annnunition dump. I wascalled. in to see a woman who was sick. I didn't go, because I wasafraid of'the soldiers. (Chuckles) Then, policemen came to pick me up

219

But that policeman happened to be a Japanese pol icemen.

(Laughter)

SIvt: And when we got to, say, oh. around fifty feet -, - -oh, and i twas rarrungtoo. And they say, "Dismount ," and we got off' the car, and then,advanced to be recognized. wi thout umbrella. (Laughs ) Carried my bagand I had to walk toward the guard. And ask me some questions. Wh.ere1'111 going and WIlY am I going.. They passed us and on the way back, hestopped us again, but, unevent.ful.Iy , I came home. But I was fr i ght.ened.(Laughs)

NC: Yeah.

Si\1:. The guns pointing at me. You know, I would say ...

NC: Only because you 'were Japanese?

S~l; Yeah.

NC: ~Vereall of tllese people who stopped you, were they all of other ethnicgroups? Other places?

SM: Other nationalities. Afterwards, I learned th.at these people. who werewat.ching the ammun i t i.on dump were from New York. Some military, theymoved to Hawai i .

NC : They were men WI10 had been drafted?

SM: Yes.

NC; TIley were not people who were stationed here before?

SM: No. So, the men told me they used to hear gunshots in the Puuikiarea where they kept the cows, t.he herd over there. Shots going out,night walk, and cows walking at night. The men got scared and theyused to fire on them.

(Laughter)

NC: Poor C01vS! lVere any o'f )TOUr Fri.ends interned? Neighbors ...

Sl-l: Yes, ,"vere. III fact, my J6d6 Mis s i.on mi.n i s ter was .i.nt.erned.

NC: Was he a citizen?

S~!: And the Hongwanj i Mission. The man who was there was Lnterned. Schoolteachers were interned. ·And... some fishennen were interned.

NC: \Vas t.he reason made known for why they were interned?

SIvI: 111 some., yes. One of my friends 'who's about two years younger than I-­the on.ly reason was that he signed his name on the paper that ,to borrow

220

money to buy trucks to be·sent to Red Cross in Japan. And he wasinterned for two years in Sand Island area.

NC: What happened to his family while he was interned?

SM: Well, the wife and four children used to come to me, and the wifeused to cry. And I used to write a letter for her. Again, I write aletter. I used to wr.i te letter stating that this man had n.othing todo with .... he was born here', never left the islands. But, I rememberwr.i t ing two letters for him. And, gave it to the w.l.fc und sent it in.But, after twoyears, 11.~ was released'.

NC: But it took two years of his life. How did the ·corrnnunity react alongethnic lines? Was there a division?

SM: There must have been. Probably other people looked down on Japanese,but as far as ·tIle plantation manager goes , Mr. Mi.dki ff was very kindin that way. And he said he'll take care all t.he .Iapanese nationali tyill Waialua, except priests and teachers. But even to .them, he was'kind. f-Ie was t.he only manager of plantation who visited internment camp,and relayed messages, whatever they are.

NC: Yeah. HO~J did the Japanese Amer.icans , Amcri.cans of Japanese ances t ryin' the community react to this crisis situation?

.SM: Well, I' wouldn't know. But, personally, I was fri glrtened , being rightby t.he ocean .... and they tell us that t.hey ' re going to invade us.Mr_ Midkiff called us, few people in Haleiwa area to be prepared .

. "what would you do if Japanese Navy invaded us?" He wanted to know."Would you fight against them?" And we all said we will fight. We'renot Japanese subject anyway. Just color was Japanese. So, I thinkhe was convinced that we will not give away anything.

NC: Did the Japanese people make an organized effort to show theirpatriotism?

SM: Yes, that's a vo l.unt.cer group first time. And then the 442nd, but manyof t.hem vo lunt.eered and some were rej ected, but they were a younggroup and they went to Mississippi, and t.hey showed. themseLf what .

NC: And ]10W about locally, the 011es WI10 were not able to join the mili tary?lVhat did the civilians do? Did t.hey also form a gx:oup?

SM: No, the only diehard group are 'the old Japanese who believed Japan waswinning the war. And t.hey were not outspoken, but they stayed home,and (Laughs ) they bel.ieved Japan was wi.nrii.ng the war. lVhen' we tellthem, it's 10s .ing the war , they were angry.

NC: Yeml, they probably did not understand. Were some of them citizens, andso~e not ~itizens?

SM: Relatively few, if any. Most of them were just ·alien Japanese.

221

NC: But they were not interned?

SM: They weren' tbecause they' di.dn ' t participate anything active. Allthe' ones who participated' in this truck buying business were interned.

NC: What about---was there a group known as the Victory Unit?

SM: Yes, t.ha t t s the vo.Iunteer Japanese group with youngsters.

NC: Those were youngsters?

SM: Yeah , they were young. About 18, high school and over.

NC: They vol~~teered for +ho\...1.1'-'

r"''Y' ;J..;;J +-h '" TV.L u...l. U. L.J Iv'y· • • • •

SM: ' At first t.he service and then they wanted to join the Army , so many ofthem did. Some, they drop out.

NC: ~Va.s there any" group out here t.hat became .invol ved i11 se.l l i ng bonds orbuyi.ng bonds, I mean buying United States bonds or' anyt.hi.ng like that?

SM: No, I don ' t remember , But, I remember such things .... I used to buy bondevery month,

,NC: Yes. lYe did in sch.ool, too. Did they have that ill the schools he re?

SM: Yes. That's a stamp.

NC: Yeah, we used to buy those stamps. Save it up to a bond. Were youInvo.lved in any particular group of Japanese Amer-icans during the Wardays?

SM: No, I didn't participate in any of those; I was in between, so" I didn'twant to be suspected of anything. In fact, a sergeant at the beach,Hal.eiwa beach , he used to take care of the military group, put in agood word for me to ,National Guard Corrnnander Lyman. And I used to havea military police and they used to COIne and ask me certain people, what)lOU rhink about certain people? First generat ion group. But, I hadto explain to them that many of them that I know are just mouth andthey don't really have anyth.ing ,

(Laughter)

NC: But still that put quite a responsibility on you.

Stv1: Yeah. And I 'vas, let's see, military intelligen.ce, and what l s the'other one? FBI. TIley used t.ocome. I was 'scared at rhe 'beginning,(Laughs) but they were nice people.

NC: ltVould you say that the community remained more calm than exci ted?

SM: I think so. Mter the shock gradually calm down to their own business.

222

NC: Now.... after the War, t.he union started to come to organize people ..Did that affect Haleiwa?

SM: Not to any degree that I know.

NC: The activity stayed within tIle plantation as. far as you know?

8M: Plantation.

NC: Now, Y9ur dad \\Tel? ?till.lj..viI1gthere, so,there ...

SM: Yes, but lle never belong to union.

"f\JC: Yes., well, was tl1at because he was ....

Sivl: Supervisory group,

NC: Did t.hc supervisory group ever form a union?

S1\1: Not t.ha t they called lillian, but they have an organization.

NC: DidyOll, as a person who could stand aside arid look in with a goodclose look, how would you appraise the coming of the union? Think interms of the workers. What do you think it did for the workers?

SM: I th i nk i t did some good. But ..... in some respec ts, the demand wastoo great and too sudden. and too rapid. And probably that was hur t i ngthem, but Union is a good thing.

NC; After the urii.on was established, then was there all effect on I-Ialeiwa?Did workers in. Hal eiwa who did not belong to unions and who did notwork on the plantation, do you think there was activi ty .then?

SM: No, no. I don "t think so.

NC: Hal eiwa still stayed. caIm. (Chucklcs ) Did you know that Waialua was thelast plant.at i on to sign up with the IL~VU?

SM: I didn't know, but I knowt}leyused to come and talk at the park overthere ..

NC: Yeah. Now that I've told )TOU, could you take a guess '\TI1Y Vvaialua wasthe last ono to sign...

Sivl: I th i.nk Waialua---the plantation management was .... a l though it's ap.Lantat i on , they treated peopIe fairly good_# And Mr. Midkiff wasreally nic~.

NC: .We've heard good things, you know. It's just that it's also interestingto see t.hat - - -you 're not really in there, but yet your father was.And you had , like I say, a front row seat at what was h.appening. Okay.

223

How about heal t.h condi t i ons? Can you tell me about irrrrnunization?

SI\1: Out }lere, .irnnuni zati.on was started I recall in 1937. Iripht.ho ri (1,

tetanus, and whooping cough Immunizati.on . From then on, gradually,' innumbcrs , SCI100ls start to demand innnunization, and' I used to havequite a few. First one was DPT vaccination. 'Then, later on, typho.idimmunization. And....... I had some scarlet fever, bu t we didn't havepenic i l l in at that time. The best we had was sulfa. So, because ofthose things, we didn't have too many diplthcrias and ....

NC: Nowtl1ose····areal1-l<ifidbfil'ifant·aridc::hildlio()ddiseases. Because.inmurri zati.on started seriously in 1937, had there been grown upsbefore who were afflicted with any of these cOTIlllllU1icablediseases?

SM: I had three or four dipljtheri.a cases. Adul ts . And.... in teenage, Ithink, about two' of them were really sick with dipither.ia. I had toget dip'uher.ia anti toxin and then ... But relatively few, I have neversecnxl.qir.her.ia after .immurri zat.i.on started. TIley went to a hospital orsomeplace, I dont; know, but ....

NC: Inrnuru zat.ionIiel.ped t.he youngs ters . How about , " e .zhe birthrate andinfantmortalitY7

S~~I: I t.h ink rhat must have helped a lot. We used to give the mothers DPT,and that may have some bearing. As far as deliveries at home, ifanything's, d.ifficul t, we used to send "ern to t.he hosp i tal. So, death,at 110Jne del ivery, in my case, hardl.ynny , because we don' t wait tillit's too Long. And the youngs ters grew IIp. They d011't die off,' justlike kids u.sed to die of whooping cough and all that. lVe didn't havet.hat , I've seen enough in New York. T11e thing called scarlet measlesand all that. Not' too many out here, no.

NC: Not too many out here in Haleiwa? Even before innntmization?

SM: Yes. I remember only few cases of whooping coughs. I used to see agood number in New York, many time.

NC : I\'RICh mo re popula tion over there, huh?

S~1: It's not. as crowded as New 'York.

NC: Yeah. T11is is still good fresh air and all that out here.

(Laught.er)

NC: Do you see any other changes i11 the later '30s and 'then into the '40s asfar as t.he ,Ileal th of the communi. ty is concerned? In the '405, werethe defense workers .... again, were there 'any kinds of stress and strainthat were really visible?

SM: TIley might have been overworked, but most of them were upper respiratory

224

diseases. And possibly due to overworking ni.ght and day and all that ..TIlat's WIlY.

NC: Yeah. I've had people tell TIle that t.hey worked seven days a week, some­times six weeks strai.ght . And SOTIle had to TI10Ve .into .... Pearl Harbor. ,And th~y lived there as well as worked there. They were on call 24 hoursa day in some jobs.

SM: Those are specific jobs.

NC: Did the people who work here, lAlere those upper respiratory diseases dueto condi tions in the defense ....

SM: I think so. In large measure, they conmuni cate from one to another,

NC: .Oh,. because they were working in close quarters? I see. Okay. Then asfar as the War was concerned, the commwlity stayed pretty calm, and...

SM: Yes, I think so. I think they behaved fairly good.

(Laughter)

NC: Dr. Miyasaki, do you remember the six. month strike in 1946?

SM: Yes. It didll't affect me, but I'm sure it affected some of the stores.The Fi l ipinos couldn't get any pay and they were getting hard times.And the stores were getting difficul ty in payment 41 1. didn't ask formoney, so, everything went alright.

(Lauglrtcr)

NC: Do you t.hi.nk that· rhe hardshi.ps endurecl by the workers put any kind ofstrain on the health standards of the community?

SM: Not to my knowl.edge .

NC: How about the feelings of people in the community towards what washappening on the plantation and the effect it had on the storekeepersof Haleiwa?'

SIvl: YVell, they didnt like it, but I don't t.hi.nk they .... sympathi zedrtoo much.

NC; Do you t h.ink that perhaps that showed that t.hey felt. t.hey were caught inthe mid.dle?

SivI: I t.h.ink so. I was caught in the middle like that, too, but .... I didntcare to. If a person is sick, he's sick, you know. I t.rea t Jrim what­ever I can. But on top of that , I was asked to donate so much to theworkers, you know, so I told 'em I'm doing my share.

I\]C: Yeah, were you aware of the results of the strike?

SM: No, didn't bother me at all. (Laughs)

NC: So you d~dn't react to that? Yet, you know that it just about spelled theend of the 'perquisite system, the paternalism thing. Was that somethingthat you t.houglrt about? The end. of the paternalism?

8M: Yes and. 110, because, that was the plantation years ago, and I know it hadto come sometime to the end. I didn't know when. If the strike or theunion did t.hat , well .... rhat t s good in a way.

225

NC: Okay. Di.d you have many Filipino patients?

SM: Yes. I did.

NC: Did the Filipino independence mean anything to' them? Did theycommunicate this to you?

Si'tI: No. 'TIley used to dress up and have parade once in a while and speechesand what not, and that's all I know. Rizal Day and all that.

NC: (Clluckles) Do you remember the tsunami that washed out the OahuRailroad and Land Company in 1946?

SM: ,Was·i t nineteen forty .... 1946, yes. That's when. we got J6d6 Missiontemple was pushed 11 feet. Two story bui l.d.ing , Pushed 11 feet forwardby the ocean , the waves, you know. All, we had to reconstruct that.At t.ha t time, the water came here, too, across the road.

NC : IJp to thi s house?

SM: Yes. Way up, three hundred feet beyond.

NC: That's a lot of force.

SM: Yes. A11d when it came, my car was right on t the drive way, and my wifeand TI1Y las t 5011 was Iooking from the two story bui Iding , When the waterstart to come, they caIne downstairs to tell TIle, get the car out, but

, when I did get a car, I could go only to that road. lVhen I was 'in the'car, I was floating back to the garage.

(Laugh ter)

NC: ~Vow! That must have been a peculiar sensation.

SI'vt: Yeah. Ancl then I got off the car. Knee deep water, and it receded,50 I had SOIHe men , and then pushed that car out . Then , when I gotthere, another wave carne and pushed the car to t he next road therer.i gh t ill Mr. Fujioka's entrance , and tJ1ere it just stop. I had to havethat car cleaned and washed. Three days before it start to functi on

NC : Oh. It had .to dry out. (Laughs)

S~'1: Yes . Oi l.ed and cl.eaned thoroughly. TIle car lasted two years more, soit was all r i.ght. I was afraid at t.hat time the heavy ocean water wi l ltopple my t\vO story buiIdi.ng , Was really high. Fish \AJere f.loat i ng in ....t.hey were in ..... this part here was Little lower and the fish in the water ..1\Ien used to go out and pick t.he fish.

NC: Did anybody get hurt in this area?

8M: Not here. . Not here. We all ran away'.

226

l\IC:' Then, 110w did people get into Honolulu after that t sunami?

SM: Well, they didn't. Many ,of them get stuck in the ... (Laughs)

NC: (Laughs) Couldn't get home?

SM: No.

NC: . In 1948, the Waialua company divided into two companies. Were ,you awareof .... that?

8M; Let's see, I had a stock, a share in there. What---I forgot the divisionthey made in there.

NC: I don't know, though.

SM: I 11ad. to change TIIy shares in the plantation. Castle and Cooke share.Forgotten 110W I did it.

NC: You had to trade them in for two new kinds of shares?

Stv1 : Yeall. Vmm .

NC: Now, was your dad on any kind of retirement plan?

SM: No. I-Ie did not get any retirement, except a. few dollars. He did getSocial Securi ty, small amount. But the plantation gave him watch and....I t.hi.nk , fifty dollars a month. 111at' s about the retirement he 'had.

NC: That was it?

SM: rnlat was the fifty years of work.

(Laugh.ter)

NC: Seems .incredi.bj.c to us now, doesn't it? Dr. Miyasaki, as theplantation changed it's way of cu.ltivation and started using herbici.desand t.hings like t.hat , has t he ne i.ghbotingenvironment , such as Haleiwa,changed in any perceptible way?

SM: The only things I remember is that the .plaJlts start to dry out. Certainpapayas , for instance. Many of them died out , The p Io t just dried out,and 110 papayas-i-Fami.Ly papayas-i- in Kamaloa and even TIline dried up.TIle vegetable growers used to-- -they say t.hey goin.g to sue the plantation.I dOJ1't know how it came out .. A11d as for as thma and all those thingsgoes, these people ·llad as thma before, so I cannot say ·tllatcaused theas t.hma ,

NC: Is there anyth i ng that you can do about your plants or about yourpatients with the asthma? I mean, can you would it be all rightfor you to talk to the plantation about their .

227

SM: No....

NC: .... use of herbicides?

SM: You know, I don't like to' say this, but plarrtat.i.on is so bi.g , smallpotatoes go out over there, it's not going to work 'at all~' Recently,a dam up t.his .I-Ialeiwa broke, and it caused flood. I t.hi.nk threepeople died. Two Pucrto Ricans, or was it Filipino? Yeall, Filipino.Rushed down. thi s river that you cross, along the bridge over there, andthey couldn'~b~f?lll1d. And thepcopIevthet-cxai.drthat '?411~tQ"t:h~dam. 'rIle dam was not built well, and 'they should .havc-v-when itstarted to rain, they should have released the water. But they didn'tunt i.I it broke and caused death and several houses were washed off.Caused damage in the vegetables and, all that. But, when they'd speakto the plantation, t.heyt d vsay , "Well, it's not due to the dam. It'sthe rain that ... ~ " (Laughs) I don't they think theyhad any indemnityat all.

NC: Did they ever use the phrase that it's an act of God? (Laughs)

SM: (Laughs) I don't know.

NC: Okay. What about other activities that affect the plantation? Areyou aware of reactions in the community, like, back in 1950 whenHarry Bridges was j ailed? Now, I think., on the plantation, the workerswere sympathe t i c towards Mr. Bridges. How about the Haleiwa conmuni ty?

SM: \Ve di dn' t . ' Mr. Bridges is all r i ght , but then, he's too radical, ~eh. Ifor one t.hi.nk he has some good parts, but I cannot sympathize wi thhis ways. So, I don't think 'many of them had anything ......

NC: So, would you say, some of those things , even though t.hey affect theplantation, which is right next door, may go almost unnoticed inHal e iwa?

SivI: I thi.nk the average person didn't notice anything.

NC: \Vas the conmuni ty aware of what happened in the elections of 1954, whenthe Dcmoc rat.s took over? Wa.s t.his communi ty aware of that talce over?

SM: Aware in what respect? Youmean .... as far as I know, I'm Republican,too.

(Laughter)

S~4: But , I noticed, there used to be a strong .Iapanese people, Democrats.About seven of t.hem. Six or seven s t.rongv Democrat i c people. But theywere a minority, because of they were overpowered by the plantation.Finally, when they got the upper hand, they were elated. And they usedto c9me to my office and talk about it. I don't want any politics in myoffice on th~t. .

228

(Laughter)

NC: So, t.hcn there was some kind of awareness in the conmuni ty thatsomething bi.g had happened as far as politics is concerned. Okay.Waialua had almost a one hundred percent shut-down in 1956. Anotherstrike. And it was in. protest. to Senator Eas t Iand hearings . Well,f rom what; I've read, he tried to make it sound as t.hough Hawaii wastoo Japanesey and maybe too radical to join the uni.on , Was there anawareness of that.~ ..

SM: Ithirik the newspapers 'made that clear,. eh,that Mr. Eastman was anti­Japanese. And we were afraid. I never met that man. TIle only thingis I read about , but I d.i.dn t t like him just because of that. .

NC: Yes. lVell,.a lot of us don't get rhe chance to meet these people,'yet, they affect, our Liyes . Yes. Okay. So, to 'that , there was reactionin the conmunit.y. Then, in 195'8, there was another big strike. Didthis also affect the economics of Haleiwa?

SM: III '58. I don't remember there was another strike.

NC: OIl, wel l , it was aish.ipp.i.ng strike. I'm sorry , it wasn't ....·tIlat'sright. It was a shipping strike. (Shipping strike was 1949.)

SrvI: Oh, that's when we were short of t hi.ngs , This and that. Particu~arly

rice.

NC: Yeah.

S1vl : Some of us were hoarding rh.ings , I 'm sure. (Laughs)'

NC: (Laughs) Okay. Then, in 1959, we achieved statehood. And how was thatreceived in' Haleiwa?

SM: Well, we thought it was a great thing. I didn't realize how much goodit does. But t.he aliens who were not citizens thought that, "Well, I'mgoingrto be a citizen from now on and. all that." And I think they feltit's a good thing, yeah.

NC: Okay. .Did statehood affect your family r.n any particular way? ,

SM: No.

NC: As you look back in the last few years, say, the last 15 years, do yousee any major changes or happenings in Haleiwa?

SM: You mean , phys i calIy , the ....

NC: Well, physically, or a feeling of community, a new kind of feeling oranything happening in t.he area?

229

SM: No, Haleiwa is kind of loose community...

NC: Itis?

SM: .· .. and we do have a conmurri ty association. Waialua Conmuni tyAssociation. But I think it's in the last few years that when the.senior c i t i zens start to group together, I think, it's closer to them ..WIlen they were reti red, then, t.hey d i.dn ' t do anything , But they aren01\1" coming out in 'the open to mingle wi tIl other nationalities. .

NC : Yes. I've attended-one-of the meetings- and it was a rriceigroup. Nicebig group. Nice people having fun together , Did any major politicalchange occur in t.he last 15 years?

SM: Not out here. Except in the Democrat.s are more popular now thanRepublicans. Republican practically died down here. After theplantation sort of..... p.larrtati.on was the main pusher of the Republicanparty, so, after that , it's gone.

NC: ~Yas ita long t ime ago that the plantation people rhcmse.lves or didRepub l i cans from outside the plantation come to organize the workersas Republicans?

51\1: No, it" s rhe p l antati.on who used to call the meeting of certain peopleto organize. Itf's the office people who. used to head that.

NC: Did they ask t he workers to vote a certain way?

SM: lYell, in a certain nice way', yeah.

NC: Was it more than asking?

Srv1: I don ' t vthink t.hey went that far. I 'th i 11k , just in a nice way, ask'them to vote for the .... I remember dis t inctIywhen Mr, Farrington was'runni ng , plantation used togo stron.g for him.

NC: So tI1e11, a maj or' change would be that the pl ant.ati.on is no longerasking anybody to .....

SM: No, I don't think they're asking or pushing anybody to do this and that.

NC: lYell, if you d011't mi.nd a personal question, t.henv vin comparing your1ife ]10\\1" wi t h thi rt.y and forty years ago, do you see yourself as havingmore Freedom of choi.ce in any respect? WJletller it's political orpersonal, recreation Oy ....

SM: I don't know, I had pret ty much rny way I want . I was restricted inperhaps some ways. Fay instance, Dr. Davis didn't want me to bringcase to hi.s hospital. !vI)" case. If I send them there, it's his case.And in t.he same way , Dr. DeI-Ia.rne told me- -he was assistant to Dr.Davis--say, if that pat i errt comes in the .hospi tal , his patient, it's Dr.Davis' patient, not his patient. So, 11e d~dn't like it, and he left overthere. But ..... 11e 's an old Army doctor, Dr. Davis so I think he has hi.s

230

ways. I don' t begrudge those things.

NC: From our talks, I don't think you throw money away, but you'recertainly not a person who" s chasing money.

S~1: No, I gave away lot of money.

(Laughter)

NC: I thi.nk you've put it to use in thecorrnnunity, when you say give itLi.kej.hemi.sslon-across ..... thestree-tand thi.ngsTrkerthat,

SM; Yes.

l~C: But, you, yourself, a.re you-v-ein tenns of material wealth" are youmore comfortable now?

SM: lVell, I own this place, and I have .... forty- three thousand square feet,here or Then I had a property- -half an acre ill Wahiawa- -whi.ch I gaveto my son. A11d I' lTI not those people- - - I cannot rent and collectrental. I don't like to collect.

(Laughter)

SM: And I dont t Li.ke rto see people complain, so I d.i.dnt go for thoseth ings , I bought; stock. If I lose, oh, that's that . (Laughs)

NC: You've done a good job with your children. You have grandchildren?

SM: One only.

NC: One? Gra.nddaughter?

SM: Child. Boy.

NC: A boy. Howald is he?

srvl: I t.hink he made four just the other day.

NC: 011. Yeah , And as you look at hiITI, do you.... have hopes for him?Do you think about his growing up a.I1d living in Haleiwa?

S~I: No, he lives in Pearl Ci ty , It's Pearl Ridge. But, I have fear thatj udg i ng f rom t.lii s little boy's behavior- -Iie T 5 go i ng to this restrictedS c}1001 . lV.hat do you call tlli 5 ? Hal e" e e e \\lhat 's this?

NC: Hanahauol i ?

SM: Yeah. It's going, gee, you...

NC: How' is it restricted?

231

S1v1: lVell, they won't accept anybody, You got to speak ; . . .. you got to ...... Ii

NC: Yea}l.

SM: My daughter is teachin.g in town', so I guess she ..... thought that thechild is bright or something like that, and put him in there. He. is ..... 1 wouldn't say 'bright, but little farther ,ahead from ordinary child,four year chi l.d , But I t.h.ink he's going to be disliked because heexpresses 'things so much. Offend, probably, offend other children ..AndT' rn~~~~~~l~'~c.l~i~ t.heit.rait g~~?aJ!~9-.4 j1!~t9-~.it..is, he's goingto' be- a sorrypersofiLbecause nobodyt s going to like him.

NC: If youve thought. about it, do you see it as somethi ng that will bejudged as bad manners , or is it a break with Japanese' tradition wherepeople are quiet?

Stvl: \Ve.ll, TIl)1 daught.er is fartller away from me in the habi t s of tradi tionaBut he .is igctt.ing far'theriaway from the mother. " Although the mothergroans and this and that. But, if 11e goes to Hanahauoli, he t s goingto learn much more , and if he goes to public schools, I think he'sgoing to be disliked. And that's what I'm afraid he "s going to beleft out ,

NC: So ·you're anxious,' for him?

Sf\1: Thi s is t.he way I felt when I werrt to Mai nl.and , No matter how muchyou can speak, how much money you have , you are s t.i l l , your face isstillOrielltal. You're go i ng to be Oriental. And I'm here to learn andif people don't want me, I don ' t want to go there.

NC: You're afraid your grandchild is facing the same kind of world?

SM: I think so .. He's going to be discriminated in many ways because of hisbehavior, not because of his color.

NC: OJ1, I see. So, it's not the same kind of world. that you faced?

SivI: Yea11. I was speaki.ng mostly Japanese here, except in school , You know,s t rangc Iy , because my folks di dn ' t speak Engl.i sh , my language wastotally .Japanese in the home, Ancl then , I'lTI in ano ther world when Igato school , (Laughs) l,Then I went to the Mai.nl.and , I'm dropped intoa place like Chicago and Milwaukee, .nobody spoke Ja-panese. Strange ...

NC: They say nobody speaks English there, either. (Laughs)

SM: So, I had to learn something, and that's my education in a way, besidesgoing to school and learning 110W to be a doctor and all that , But,othcr ways',' I felt 'that , well, I have money to pay. I can work. And.evcn when I started to be as an intern, whatever shortcomings there isin my color, I tried to make up with 'my work. And that was an originalintention ,for me working overtime.

NC: But you knew better that there was no shortcoming with your color.Didn't you blOW that? '

SM: (Chuckles) Well, I probab-ly knew..•

END OF INTERVIEW'

232

WAIALUA & HALEIWA

lh-e- People

.Tell Their Story

Volume V

JAPANESE '

ETHNIC STUDIES ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

ETHNIC STUDIES PROGRAM.

UNIVERSITY OF HA WAil, MANOA

May 1977